Bolt On Neck System With No Neck Angle Adjustments Needed.

[StratoA]

Early this year I was talking with Gerard Gilet about the frustration of trying to teach students the bolt on method for neck attachments to guitar body. He mentioned the idea of a Spanish heel type setup where the neck can be unbolted off the body. I took that concept and came up with the following procedure where the neck angle is built into the instrument. Its an easy alternative to the regular bolt on where you can spend quite a bit of time setting the neck angle to the body with some precision chisel work after you have used quite a complicated jig and router to create the mortise and tenon.
This procedure is a cross between the Spanish heel and bolt on in its construction. The neck angle is set in the construction and shouldn't need adjusting once the back is on. It can be unbolted and adjusted if need be.
Its an easy build and can be created without a router and routing jig if you prefer to use hand tools,

Neck is now set at the right angle without any adjustment needed after the back is glued on.

[Steve.Toscano]

Looks great Strato! Such a simple and solid method. Thanks for taking the time to document and share this.
I look forward to implementing in future builds.

- Steve T.

[Jim]

I like the look of that Strato, great idea. Is it hard to set the neck angle?

Thanks for posting.

Jim

[StratoA]

Thanks Jim. The first angle which is simply your center line is set when you glue the top on. I have 6mm dowels in the solera which sit in the truss rod slot and holds the neck straight with the top. The top can be clamped in place through the sound hole or in this case I actually left excess on the edges of the SB and screwed it in place on the Soleara. That way the top and neck can't move while you are gluing and clamping.
The second angle is set when I get ready to glue the back on. I lift the neck up at the nut about 1.5mm off the soleara with a tongue depressor and clamp it in position.This gives me about 1.5mm gap at the bridge position when I project the neck angle. The back gets glued on and that neck angle is set.
To check all my angels for saddle height I sit a bridge in place, sit a 6mm fingerboard in place, place the tongue depressor on the fingerboard at the nut end to simulate the string height there and a 4mm drill bit at the 12th fret position to simulate the string height there and then sit a straight edge on these 2 spacers and check the saddle height at the bridge. If it is a bit too high, I thin the fingerboard to achieve the 3-4mm off the bridge that I'm looking for. If it is alot too high or low then I can take the neck off and adjust the angle at the heel like a normal bolt on. I've only tried this new method once and the neck angle was right with a 6mm fingerboard once the back was glued on. I'm now ready to take the neck off and fit all the bindings. Tongue depressors have become my universal spacer! Also good for stirring epoxy glue.

[Jim]

Cool Strato, that all makes pretty good sense to me. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain it. How do you think the joint will go over the long term? I've been using a Spanish heel for some ukulele builds and love it. I'm planning my first steel string guitar build down the track and am currently trying to get my head round the best style of neck join to use. I know Cole Clark use a Spanish heel on their builds.
Cheers
Jim

[StratoA]

Hi Jim, Apologies for the late response. I don't get much time to go onto the forum.
This bolt on method will work as well as any bolt on system where the fingerboard is glued to the soundboard. The beauty of this method is that the neck angle is set in the build and there is no extra work required later to try and get the neck angle right. Over all its quicker and easier than routing the neck join and fitting the neck later.
The bolt on bolt off system is even better but that requires a fair bit more effort. The whole idea of a bolt on is so the repair man can fix your guitar easily in time to come. Only a small % of guitars ever need to have the neck angle reset. Even more rare is for a nylon stringed instrument to need an neck angle reset. I use the bolt on method for steel strung instruments and Spanish heel for nylon strung instruments.