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Permalink Reply by Ted Kaczynski on October 27, 2011 at 1:45pm

i belive chicken bone john touched on this try cking his page out

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 27, 2011 at 7:49pm

Bolt-on is a misnomer in most cases, it's just screwed-on, You can inset nuts or nut inserts into the neck and use bolts (ie machine screws), but I just used ordinary csk. woodscrews and pressed steel cups.

 

There's no 'concept' - just look at an ordinary electric guitar. A 2 1/2" - 3" overlap onto the body and woodscrews (convention is 4 screws, but National used to use only 2 on their solidbodies, so 2 or 4 work fine for me. You can cut out the top of the box to take the end of the neck, or notch the end of the neck to slip under the top of the box (just make sure the heel end of the neck is thick enough to cope with being weakened in this way). I just put a stick along the length of the back, about the same width of the neck, to provide a solid fixing.

 

Here's one with the top cut to receive the end of the neck..the end of the fretboard has a 'frailing scoop' to give more clearance for picking -  this about the minimum you can get away with  in terms overlapping onto the centre block.

 

Here's another one,  with the end of the neck cut to slide under the top (and another notch to accommodate the pickup). You can see the centre block along the back, and I've also added some side 'buttresses' to align the neck and to stiffen the joint. The neck is then fixed from the back thru the centreblock using 4 woodscrews. This allows me to shim the neck angle and get the action how I want - crucial in this guitar as it's got a uke resonator cone and biscuit bridge. It ticks all the boxes for me - simplifies setting up, easy to take apart in the future to adjust the action or carry out repairs, gives me a perfect lateral neck alignment, plus it's robust and easy to make.

 

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Permalink Reply by Doug Patterson on October 28, 2011 at 1:58am

Chickenbone John:  many thanks!  A picture is, indeed, worth a thousand words.  Helps me understand so many other things, as well.  Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by c# merle on October 28, 2011 at 10:11am

following on from what chickenbonejohn says ( and he should know), i like to use 2 roofing bolts with a 2 inch overlap on the box with a built up inner heel. add a shim for neck angle, attach neck, cut bolts for size and your done.

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