The fit between the neck and body on a set neck guitar is critical.
The neck pocket needs to be nice and snug to properly transfer vibrations between neck and body. Too loose and the and structural integrity and tone will be lost. It seems almost cli·ché in the guitar building community to take pictures of a guitar mid-build being held up by its neck with nothing else besides a tight fit between the neck and body to hold the body in place while suspended in mid air. I’ve even taken a few. You’re looking at one. The funny part is that you don’t really want your neck pocket quite that tight. Overly tight neck joints stress the body unnecessarily during humidity changes and cause finish cracks near the neck pocket. It can also starve the set neck joint of glue when attaching the neck to the body and actually weaken the joint. You want it to slip in and be just taunt. With all that being said here’s a picture of the neck joint on the guitar I’m working on today.
No comments yet.