FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Guitar Neck Parts

Question:
I'm curious about something..I've always been a huge Gibson fan.. for the most part or set neck and / or neck thru guitar player because of sustain and punch mostly when using a short scaled guitar like a gibbiie.. That said, I'd like to have a Fender or bolt on neck guitar that sustained as well.. I once had a Godin which did sustain as well or better than most Gibson's I've had believe it or not, but I understand they take their time mating the necks to the bodies.. If I decide to buy a pre built body and neck how can one insure that the neck and body will be matched well and allow most of the wood to contact.. yet have the proper angle to get string action low with 10 and 11 gauge strings.. The guitar body will be basswood, neck will be maple with huge frets and rosewood board, on a short scale with string thru the body bridge.. 22 frets, etc.. and I'll probably use EMG pickups.. probably an 81 and an SA single coil for strat like sounds in the middle position slanted a tad.. That said, I want to get as much natural sustain as possible.. and yet I want a great action.. I saw a guitar tech use a matchbook cover once to get the angle right so that the action would be good.. I think it worked, but I'd be worried that resonance would suffer with less wood contact.. Now I realize I'm asking the impossible probably, but wondering if there are ways to do what I'm wanting? Thanks in advance to anyone that has done this work

Answer:
I never have grabbed on to this myth that set-neck guitars have better sustain. All the Gibsons I have ever owned sounded like a dull thud on the bass notes when struck. No bright sharp attack at all. When I hit a note and hold it on the Gibsons, I would have to really apply a heavy vibrato to tease the note to make it sustain and bring out the harmonics. I have owned about 4 Fender Strats and everyone of them without fail would hold out almost any note that I struck (I am talking high gain amps and usually a Seymour Duncan minature Humbucker in the bridge) and sing with infinite sustain and full harmonic content for as long as I held the note. On Gibsons, it seems there were just a few sweet spots here and there that would sustain and that usually involved having to stand at just the right angle facing the amp. I once took a Strat and epoxyed the neck to the body, falling for this set-neck sustain myth and ruined the sustain characteristics of the guitar. Gibson seems to use some kind of glue on their set-necks that really dampens the sustain characteristics and wood characteristics of the guitar. I have a Hamer Studio with a set-neck that sounds very much like a Strat in the Bass registers with a sharp solid attack on the bass notes. It sustains very well also. It sounds completely different than the Gibson set-necks. Someone would have to prove to me that a set-neck sustains better since there is glue between the two parts -neck and body. I think the bolt-ons have better wood to wood contact and the metal screws are somewhat more resonant than a layer of glue would be. It just seems like common sense to me.