Wooden Neck Plate?

[anarchy]

hey guys i was wondering if any of you would know if this works. I want to increase the resonance and sustain of my les paul bolt on neck guitar, and i dont want to glue it in do to the obvious reasons. I was wondering if anybody would have an idea about making a wooden neckplate as the neckplate is where you loose alot of the vibrations and resonance or so ive heard. i have an idea for it but was wondering if anyone would know anything about this idea. i know the wood wouldnt be very strong but i was thinking if i took it and set a rubber washer around a lock washer that possibly it would hold it any ideas or suggestions thanks

[spazzyone]

metal makes more sustain than most woods

[RAI6]

...set a rubber washer around...

And rubber kills sustain...

[anarchy]

...set a rubber washer around...

And rubber kills sustain...

i got an idea why dont you be helpful and give me an idea instead of hmm.... lets oh yeah doing absolutely nothing but tearing my ideas down. i dont know i was asking for yalls oppinion and possibly someone who actully would try to help instead of badmouthing the idea, give me an idea instead of just tearing it apart im lookin for help not someone to do the complete opposite

[Primal]

Dude, chill out man. His reply gave advice and made a very good point. Rubber kills sustain. Hence, he's saying you shouldn't use a rubber washer. Seriously, if you weren't able to deduce his advice from his statement, then something is wrong on your end. Rubber acts as a shock absorber, absorbing VIBRATIONS so that they don't transfer to something else.

Stay with a metal neck plate.

[tirapop]

Anarchy,

The theory behind the alleged superiority in sustain of thru necks and set necks, is that neck vibrations are transmitted through a continuous piece of wood or through a wood-to-wood glued shear joint (the sides of the tenon), instead of through bolts in tension and the neck compressing the bottom corner of the pocket. The metal plate has neglible effect on the stiffness of the bolt in tension, no effect on the compression load in the pocket, and wouldn't affect sustain (aside from the additional mass).

If you want to eliminate the metal plate, you can. Look at any bolt-on neck with an all access neck joint body. They don't use a metal plate. A wooden neck plate would serve no structural purpose. Putting a rubber washer in the joint stack would make it less stiff and increase the dampening... both things reduce the energy transfer from the neck to the body.

You asked for ideas and suggestions. The consensus is don't bother. What you're proposing won't achieve the goal you've set out.

[anarchy]

thanks tira thats much more helpful

[Mickguard]

thanks tira thats much more helpful

Touchy touchy...you'd figure a guy with a name like anarchy would be, uh, a little tougher.

Anyway, how about starting out simple --first thing I'd do would be to make sure there's nothing funky about the neck pocket --maybe there's a shim in there (you don't say if you built this yourself, so I'm assuming you didn't), maybe the pocket isn't perfect.

Next, I'd make sure the screws holding your neck on are nice and tight. When I bolt a neck on, I use a pump-type clamp to get it seated tightly, then I screw the neck down. I feel you get a tighter join this way than simply using the screws themselves to pull the neck into the pocket.

And then there are a few adjustments you can make --for one thing, the pickups might not be properly adjusted --raising or lowering them into proper place can do wonders for your tone AND sustain (if the magnets are pulling too hard on the strings, they'll deaden them).

A lot of people feel that you can influence sustain and resonance on a LP-style guitar by increasing the downward pull after the saddles (i.e., lowering the stoptail).

But there could be other factors in your sustain/resonance problems --first, you say it's a bolt-on neck Les Paul? What's the make? I'm going to go ahead and make an assumption that this is not a hugely expensive guitar? (of course, there are plenty of cheapo LP setnecks these days too)

If this is true, then you might look into changing pickups --you might prefer a set with more powerful output.

Also a less-than-expensive guitar might be using a softer metal for the saddles.

Just things to look into.

[marksound]

I want to increase the resonance and sustain

Ah, the holy grail.

Seriously, "increase the resonance and sustain" is pretty vague. There are tons of guitar voodoo buzzwords that fly around, and few people really know what they actually mean. "Tone" is another one. What is it that tells you your guitar doesn't have enough resonance and sustain?

In the 70s the solution was a brass nut. That would do it--and by the way, make that Les Paul as heavy as you possibly can, please. Twelve, fifteen pounds, the heavier the better. Sustain, brother, sustain. Wear it around your knees, too (because you couldn't lift it any higher).

In the 80s, the brass tarnished (except for Yngwie, but you know) and your axe had to be light, light enough so you could jump off your stacks and stuff like EVH. Floyds and basswood, man, cuz we like it brown. Pass the rattlecan, please.

The 90s brought us Seattle and Starbucks and flannel, oh my. Screw sustain, gimme a short scale whatever and pump me full of caffeine and opiates and listen to my angst before I blow my head off. Ugh.

The new millennium has brought us the emoscreamopostpunkdeathcorehowlowcanyoutunethedamnthinganyway movement, and I'll be dipped if I understand any of that shtuff. Anyway.

So, exactly what is it you're trying to achieve?