Official Luthiers Forum!

In the past I have glued the mortice and tenon on my bolt-on necks. Was that a big mistake? I was just reading Cumpiano (pg. 190) and he says that the mortice and tenon are not to be glued. The luthier I learned from glued his...
I know some folks don't...
Thanks,
Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I can't see any advantage in gluing and it defeats the advantages of the BO neck. The BO neck with glued fretboard extension allows a poor man's neck reset (flossing of the heel with the fretboard still glued down), but a double tenon, full bolt on, bolt off affair is not that hard to do and has the advantage of you being able to completely remove the neck in a couple of minutes without messing with glue joints and all the attendant risks.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I guess gluing the joint is like wearing both suspenders and a belt... I hope I won't be sorry I glued those necks. I guess as long they don't need a reset I should be okay...

Trevor - I've seen some other methods of fingerboard attachment but they look more complicated.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

There's more to making a double tenon bolt on, no doubt about it, but really, it's not rocket surgery. It's also one of those trade off things. I save more than the time it takes to do the double tenon in fretting and set-up time. Best to look at the whole process.

Tilt necks are similar - needs more careful work getting all the fits right but effectively zero set-up time. Fit a saddle at your designed string height above the soundboard and just dial up your action. And the user can dial up an action change in seconds.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

"I guess gluing the joint is like wearing both suspenders and a belt.."

I think it's more like wearing a chastity belt - you may not be able to get to some places easily you might like to in the future.

Martin glues theirs. They use a single bolt to aid in the gluing process.

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Another day, another dollar.

My teacher , years ago...glued mine also. I watched him do it, thinking "oh no"....but kept my mouth shut. Years later I wish he hadn't done that. In my opinion, it is not the right way (or necessary way) to do things.