Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on October 26, 2011 at 8:22am

I built my resonator pretty much as a "real" guitar is built, with a "heel" inside the box and slots for the front to slide into.

This was additionally reinforced with a pair of braces that ran the length of the back.

This resulted in a lot of gluing surface, and I used titebond II, a premium synthetic wood glue.

 

I certainly wouldn't attempt to just stick the neck structure onto the front-piece of the box with glue...   Using a bolt-on neck seems more appropriate if you want to go that route.  I've built several that way and they work fine.

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Permalink Reply by Marcus P. Clarke on October 26, 2011 at 11:21am

In other projects I haven't had very good results with Gorilla glue...P

tony `Tea Belly` johnson said:

I use gorilla glue, some here don`t like it but for me it`s never been a problem.Just make sure you don`t overdo it though because it expands like tyreweld,and it`s got a strong adhesive.

 

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Permalink Reply by Medicine Man CBG's-Mikel Doktor on October 26, 2011 at 6:10pm

My magic combo is (A) Titebond blue (B) with a bolt on neck. Gorilla glue, as most know, will expand in all the wrong places sometimes. This makes any little clean ups a hassel.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 27, 2011 at 2:31am

I NEVER glue my necks in, two decent woodscrews is enough to fix a neck for 3 and 4 string guitars. You don't need any more strength than that, plus it's really easy to take out to adjust the action, repairs etc. 

 

As for glue, ordinary woodglue is best, Titebond (plain old red label stuff) is my choice..plus you can release it with heat and moisture for future repairs...but there's no advantage to be gained by glueing in a neck.

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on October 27, 2011 at 4:24am

I screw on my necks, but for the blocks to screw them to I use either Tite Bond or Elmers Carpenters wood glue. Both work well, set up0 reasonable quick when clamped and you can clean the ooz with water while it is still soft.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 27, 2011 at 4:50am

For my money, definitely the way to go. For a first time build especially, it's useful to be able to tinker with it, and a screw-on neck is easy for that, as you can take it out, shim the neck angle to get the action just right, re-align it etc.

 

I'm just re-necking a CBG (made by someone else, but the owner didn't like the skinny neck) with a glued-in neck...fortunately it's come off pretty clean, but it was still 1/2 hour's careful work to get it free...it would have been out in seconds if it had been fixed with screws..and of course the new neck is screwed in.

MichaelS Country Boy Guitars said:

I screw on my necks, but for the blocks to screw them to I use either Tite Bond or Elmers Carpenters wood glue. Both work well, set up0 reasonable quick when clamped and you can clean the ooz with water while it is still soft.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Rose on October 27, 2011 at 11:26am

Another vote for screwing. Wait.... Ok, whatever. Anyway, screwing the neck in is so much easier. My first few builds I nailed the neck to the box, but it wasn't a very secure method, and I reinforced with glue. Then I switched to screws, and it's so much better. Doesn't look as cool as the nails, but it can't all be aesthetics.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 27, 2011 at 11:45am

Stradivari used nails and glue to fit the neck on his fiddles and guitars...that's a pretty good precedent.

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Permalink Reply by Marcus P. Clarke on October 27, 2011 at 12:31pm

So are you saying line the neck up with the top of the box and glue and screw it in abandoning the thru box method..

Ryan Rose said:

Another vote for screwing. Wait.... Ok, whatever. Anyway, screwing the neck in is so much easier. My first few builds I nailed the neck to the box, but it wasn't a very secure method, and I reinforced with glue. Then I switched to screws, and it's so much better. Doesn't look as cool as the nails, but it can't all be aesthetics.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 27, 2011 at 7:33pm

I usually install the necks on my guitars with the top of the fingerboard showing about 1/4" above the line of the top (pretty much as per a 'regular' guitar) - it gives me more height at the bridge and thus a better break angle for the strings (depending on how you do the bridge/tailpiece). You can run the neck into the box as much as you want, with a minimum of about 3" to get a decent fixing, or take it right the way thru'.

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Permalink Reply by Order99 on October 29, 2011 at 5:03pm

Marcus P. Clarke said:

So are you saying line the neck up with the top of the box and glue and screw it in abandoning the thru box method..

Ryan Rose said:

Another vote for screwing. Wait.... Ok, whatever. Anyway, screwing the neck in is so much easier. My first few builds I nailed the neck to the box, but it wasn't a very secure method, and I reinforced with glue. Then I switched to screws, and it's so much better. Doesn't look as cool as the nails, but it can't all be aesthetics.

You can screw directly to the top or bottom of the box if you want- one directly on top of the lid and a heel beneath, dulcimer style-and get great results if you can spare the resonating space on top.

But you can use the Screw-on method with Through-neck styles as well...calculate where you want the neck, calculate the height of the bracing block beneath, glue the latter block or blocks down and screw the neck to the glued blocks, Heck, you can screw the bracing blocks too if you want if you don;t mind seeing the screws on the outside of the box-,ale them part of the design on the back or stick some labels over the heads...

I believe Chickenbone john was talking about a partial or total Through-neck screwed to glued-in inner block, since he mentioned being able to shim the neck to adjust the action.

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