screw-on (bolt-on) neck vs. neck-through, can you hear the difference?

[UntitledUser]

Probably I think that there can be a measurable (in a scientific test) difference in notes sustain...
...but I never play notes that have a lenght of, just to say, three or five seconds.
I play notes of milliseconds lenght. So I would never have any benefit from it.

(a compressor/sustainer probably would mitigate this difference also)

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

I expect there is a difference, for sure, but there's no way I could specifically tell which is which by way of a blind test. Maybe if you produced two identical basses other than their neck joints, but I don't know of any basses you could really use for that test.

 

[Hounddog409]

I have/had multiple of both.

I dont think there is a difference in sound, but all my neck through have been much more stable than the screw ons.

I have to adj neck all the time on the jazz and other screw necks. I have never adj the neck on my carvin (1992) or RIC (2015).
Or TBird (2018).

I much prefer these 3 basses based on sound over the Jazz or Yamaha.....but that is different electronics, pickups, etc

 

[yodedude2]

First of all, they're screwed on, not bolted
Yes, there is a difference.

Secondly, can you hear the difference?

a bit off the subject at hand; however,

i've converted screw-ons to bolt-ons and definitely heard (and even physically felt) a difference.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

This debate is, what...30 years old now?
Won’t be a new debate if you substitute screws for bolts...

 

[mrjim123]

Frankenstein has a bolt-on neck and he sounds nothing like any neck-through humans that I know of; so, yeah, it makes a difference.

 

[charlie monroe]

Actually on Roscoe basses the necks ARE bolted on.

+1!
I was about to say. Some bolt on necks actually are.

Since we are being specific, a neck with threaded inserts accepts machine screws, not bolts. Machine screws are not tapered as most other screws are.

A bolt typically will protrude through the materials it is fastening and require a nut, or a nut and washer to secure it.

 

[mikewalker]

I have an idea... instead of using screws or bolts to join a neck to a body, how about using hefty neodymium magnets (Invalid Link Removed...) - I am reminded of this possibility because I just saw a banner ad for Pumpkin Spice magnets...

 

[Bass4LifeRS]

You know how I know you’ve never seen a bass whose neck was secured with threaded inserts?

btw does anyone remember the experiment Fodera did a few years ago where they built three “identical” [sic] Basses whose only difference was the neck mounting method? Same woods, same body & neck construction, same hardware and electronics... only difference was one was bolt-on, one was glue-on, and one was thru-body.

And then they posted sound samples on line and asked listeners to try identifying which was which. A week or so later they published the correct answers. iirc some folks even got it right...but many at least agreed there was an audible difference between sound samples.

Not sure how much of that can be attributed to Expectation Bias...

I remember!! My favorite was the set neck. A happy medium.

 

[Pushrod]

I think the neck throughs I have owned and played have a different feel and maybe more sustain. I always thought the fretboard was more flat than my bolt ons though.

 

[Gnal]

I votes 'sometimes'.

I think there are more factors at play that just the connection point between the neck and body. There was a comparison that Fodera did between their construction methods where all the samples were made with the same types of wood and hardware. On their recordings there was an audible difference between bolt-on, set-neck (dovetail) and neck though.

I don't know that in a mix the difference would be heard, but soloed and intently listening for it, it is there.

 

[Bob_Ross]

But the threaded inserts are screwed in. So does that make the bass bolt-on or screwed on?

:::headexplodes:::

Since we are being specific, a neck with threaded inserts accepts machine screws, not bolts. Machine screws are not tapered as most other screws are.

A bolt typically will protrude through the materials it is fastening and require a nut, or a nut and washer to secure it.

:::headreassembles:::

 

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, I've got set neck, bolt on, and neck thru basses. My first two basses were a Hofner and a Gibson, both with set necks. Maybe for that reason, I've always felt that a set neck was a higher quality build than a bolt on... and I'd pay more for it.
But I have no rational explanation to justify it.

 

[spigmu]

I hate basses that sustain more than I want, which is not very much. In recordings there's so much stuff going on, and so many options for processing the sound, that it's impossible to tell unless you had a previous notion of what bass it was, and, to bring it full circle, I'm a huge fan of the placebo effect.

What was the question?

 

[Cage]

First of all, they're screwed on, not bolted
Yes, there is a difference.

Secondly, can you hear the difference?

A while back I was comparing two very similar basses & the thought never occurred to me, at the time, that part of their difference in timbre was due to the neck-through vs. screw-on designs.

Now I'm rethinking every time I tried a neck-through Ibanez BTB & wish I'd taken that into account.
I'm also wishing I could get a SR505E (screw-on) & BTB740 (neck-through), both with Bartolini BH2 pickups, side-by-side for a comparison.

Yes, I know there's been much discussion in the past, I'm reading those threads now.
However, I don't think there was a poll.

I believe it's more of a feel thing for the player but I think neck though is a more rounded tone

 

[Turnaround]

Since we are being specific, a neck with threaded inserts accepts machine screws, not bolts. Machine screws are not tapered as most other screws are.

A bolt typically will protrude through the materials it is fastening and require a nut, or a nut and washer to secure it.

So if it's a bolt-on, it's actually a machine-screw on. So both are screw-ons. You screw-in the insert that accepts a machine screw - so you're doubly screwed? Perhaps there is a distinct advantage to a neck-through - you don''t have to get caught up in this screwy attachment discussion.

 

[Williethump]

Came across this quote from Glenn Letsch in Stuff Good Bass Players Should Know:
"Cut to the chase. Basses with bolt-on necks sound better than neck-thru basses. They are punchier, the notes sound thicker, there is more definition, and the tone is better. The main reason for this is the coupling effect that occurs when a bolt-on neck is wedged into the heel pocket of the bass body. Sound generated from the neck transfers to the heel pocket. If you combine the thickness of the end of the neck with the thickness of the heel pocket, there is approximately 2 to 2 1/2 inches of wood mass through which to transfer the note vibrations."
Then he tells an anecdote ending with Robin Trower telling him to dump the neck-thru with the "paper thin" tone lacking "punch and definition".
He mentions the NT's ergonomic advantage and ends by damning it with faint praise..."If you need to solo in the upper register, and you play in a band where there is not much sonic competition in the overall mix (like a lighter jazz combo), the neck-thru bass might work for you."
Wow, Letsch doesn't like them and pulls no punches. I'd never heard this so definitely ststed before with such assurance. I've never picked up a NT bass so I have no opinion.
"Since we are being specific, a neck with threaded inserts accepts machine screws, not bolts. Machine screws are not tapered as most other screws are."
So that settles it, Killed by death is right, no such thing as a bolt-on neck. Even the axes with threaded inserts use screws, not bolts. You'd snag your hand on the bolt head if you built one with bolts.

 

[fretno]

lets just talk about a bolt on for a min . I do a kinda ritual setup on them , many little tweaks along the way but one thing I do is string it up , tune it up to tension and back off the neck screws so the string tension pulls the neck firmly into the pocket and Ideally butt up against the body . On an older guitar sometime you can here a *snap as it pulls into place .The retighten .. I hear an immediate tonal improvement after this , another thing I do to a 5 screw bent type bridge is , while strung up and tuned I back out the screws allowing the bridge to settle on the body face . Sometimes cranking those screws in raises the bridge off the body and causes some setup issues as well as tonal changes . I leave the screws out about a 1/4 thread , if there were no tension over the saddles the bridge is free a little to move . That always sounds better to me . My point is every little thing has an effect on the instrument , how many wraps on the tuners , more obvious things like pickup height , string type of course just about everything , even the current weather . Don't fight it just love them for what they are and help them achieve the tone they aspire too . ymmv \m/

 

[FugaziBomb]

I once played a neck through Stingray HH back to back with my own screw-on HH and I didn't notice a difference. I still think the sample set is way too small to make a judgement call, though. Personally, I don't believe it makes a difference, but that is purely anecdotal.

 

[Copperhead]

First of all, they're screwed on, not bolted
Yes, there is a difference.

Though you are pedantically correct, its not as irksome as someone saying they they put a new pair of strings on their bass.