Neck through guitars

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

I've been looking for a woman all the time yes I have......oooops sorry too much "Mistreated" practice going on.

 

Anyway, I've been looking for a nice non pointy HSH and I've always been an admirer of this guitar, its from the people who make a lot of the MIK Epis.

 

 

The spec is very impressive but its too far to travel to give it a try and its the only one I can find in the UK.

 

Question: Do neck through guitars have particular characteristics compared to their setneck and bolt neck cousins? Is this guitar principally like a maple bodied guitar? Do the wings have a great effect on the tone?

Maybe some of you Carvin lovers know this stuff?

 

What would the more experienced of you expect this guitar to sound like?

 

ta very muchly

[supercow3]

It depends on how well the guitar is mande. Some people think that neck-through has better sustain than a set-neck and a bolt on but i truth, its how well it is made. other than that, i'm not too sure. Nice guitar though

[Ancient Mariner]

I personally like neck-throughs, and I've had one with similar construction to that. It was an El Maya, and If I could ever find another like it (it was the top model) I'd grab it again.

 

Mine had great sustain and good tone - really sang. It was however quite a thick carved body and had through-stringing. I'd expect that to be a little more resonant but also the FR to be a tone killer for cleans.

[Rich]

A friend of mine has a neck through, Chinese made, Warlord, he bought at a flea market for $100. He changed the pickups and wiring and still rocks with it to this day. Believe it or not, for $100 it is one of the best sounding guitars I have ever heard.

[wah wah]

Neck-throughs tend to sustain longer because the neck to body joint is more solid.

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

 

Originally posted by wah wah Neck-throughs tend to sustain longer because the neck to body joint is more solid.

 

 

I would have said that it has a better sonic pathway as there is a lot of surface area in the joint between neck and body.

[KovachianOne]

My Carvin has a maple neck yet it has a predominantly dark sound. I'm not sure if the mahogany wings and rosewood board are overtaking the maple, or if it's the low mid heavy pups. I'm leaning towards the pups, which leads me to believe that pickups have the greatest effect on tone, especially for solidbodies. When it comes to neckthrus, I think you could build a guitar with all dark & mellow woods and still come out sounding bright when amplified if you're using bright pups, and vice versa.

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

 

Originally posted by KovachianOne My Carvin has a maple neck yet it has a predominantly dark sound. I'm not sure if the mahogany wings and rosewood board are overtaking the maple, or if it's the low mid heavy pups. I'm leaning towards the pups, which leads me to believe that pickups have the greatest effect on tone, especially for solidbodies. When it comes to neckthrus, I think you could build a guitar with all dark & mellow woods and still come out sounding bright when amplified if you're using bright pups, and vice versa.

 

 

Whats pups are in it out of interest?

[batotman]

I love my neck thru ESP LTD H-302.

 

BTW sustaining more is a myth. A good bolt-on can sustain just as long as nay neck thru.

[lerxstcat]

 

Originally posted by batotman I love my neck thru ESP LTD H-302. BTW sustaining more is a myth. A good bolt-on can sustain just as long as nay neck thru.

 

 

+1. Sustain on an electric guitar is really a function of the pickups and amp you use.

 

I like the tone of a neck-through though, it is similar to a setneck in that it is smoother, but maybe less articulate. Bolt-ons tend to be clearer sounding to me - things like pickups and bridges being equal, that is. Both of those will really affect the tone as well.

 

But I take guitars on a case-by-case basis, and don't reject any because of how the neck's attached.

[Darkstorm]

Very well done bolt ons are very nice. They like all boltons in my experience do ave a slight midrange notch to their sound. Not a bad thing at all. Bolt ons and neck thrus have fastest note attack. Set neck guitars and basses have a slightly slower note attackand slightly more bass content. Not a bad thing. Well made thru body neck guitar will have little more sustain but not enough to make neck thru mandatory for best sustain. Nice neckthrus arent expensive when you concider ESP LTD & import BC Rich for two examples. BTW I"ve compared and owned same guitars in all 3 neck versions. Take 3 identical guitars with same pups ect and the diff for neck type is very small but still there as a little sound tweek.

 

 

That looks like very nice guitar.

 

Neck thru (maple neck) with mahogany wings and quilt or flame maple top and neck thru with poplar wings are my fave for neckthrus. For set neck prefers mahogany neck and body with pups that have very good crunch and top end. Prefers rosewood and alt ebony fretboard.

 

 

To get that slight add of low end and to fix loose neck pockets that hurt sustain and harmonics: Simply unbolt neck, remove any shim, make sure you got wood to wood contact rather then finish to finish or finish to wood contact everywhere neck but and neck pocket touch, and put light layer of elmers or other wood glue in. Rebolt neck back on. Make sure neck sits right in pocket before glue dries. Wipe off the little of glue that seeps out edges from tightening bolts down nice & tight. Let dry overnight. Done. Better sustain and harmonics for any guitar with less then nice & tight neck joint.

[KovachianOne]

Originally posted by Fosse Fox Whats pups are in it out of interest?

100% stock, the only pickups available with Carvin 7s.

[Jkater]

The main advantage of a neck-thru is the possibility of a very sleek heel where the neck meet the body making for confortable access to the upper frets. A disadvantage of this design could be that if the guitar is not well built, you can't reset the neck or correct a bad neck angle.