Helldunkel

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Its actually impossible to compare set neck, neck through and bolt-on really when it comes to sound and sustain blablablablba Brain washing and marketing however seams to work very well Why? very simple: are all 3 instrument built with exactly the same wood, from the same board and have the exact same density? Do all 3 instrument share exactly the same specifications, settings, string guages etc? The reply is NO its impossible.... If you want to compare you would have to do something which does not yet exist, this would be to actually clone a tree 3 times and use exactly 3 times the exact pieces of wood which will be cut exactly the same on all 3 guitars, same applies to the fingerboard etc... Then and only then will you be able to give a real judgement.... Also, how do we define sustain? I have never seen a rule telling that sustain MUST be more then 15 seconds!?!?!? This is all marketing poo poo... The thing to do is to use what you like and what suits your building style and philosophy and perfect it.... That's really it BTW historically bolt-on is by far the oldest way of attaching a neck on a musical instrument, stradivarius was using 3 nails to attach the necks on his violons in the baroque period Most lute makers use a big screw to attach the necks....

Thanks for your kind words Most makers get to bolt-on when they start to sell guitars arround the world and realise that one of their customers had a problem in the airport with the baguages... Its reversible and you can repair I also enjoy the guys who come to my front door crying when they have similar problem with a neck through or set neck... This also happened on 3 of my instruments in the past years so I switched to bolt-on Also you can really control the action settings and neck angle, to me it all makes perfect sens and I enjoy that technique because of these reasons... Another reason is wood, very hard to find properly well seasoned wood for a maker like me who takes pride building one piece necks, imagine the resource I need for that.... Set in necks is cool until the drama happens, then its not cool anymore... Also bolt-on really show wood craft, a proper neck joint requires experience, you cant hide a poor joint with glue and wood dust Here are pics of one of my joints: I live here (next to montreux) in the french region:

Most people buy them because they think that they are made in switzerland... So easy to place ''swiss designed'' when advertising something But from what I've heard they are very good tuning machines and not cheesy

Just keep in mind, these tuning machines are NOT made in switzerland.... ''Swiss design'' can mean anything from a little designer who has a computer sitting on his ass in geneva who then sends plans to this big company who produces tuning machines for several companies and manufactures including stewmac...

I think that when most people build guitars and relie on the neck attachement technique they completely forget the other ingredients which make for the final instrument... The sustain argument is a residue left in our head after years of big companies marketing manipulation attempts and there is a natural reaction from the humans to this that scientifics name ''the first impression opinion'' which is exactly what these marketing guys are using to convince the big blind mass... Then comes the guitar makers who have actually built enough guitars in their life (not only 20 - 30) to actually say that all of this argument is non sens BUT they choose to use a specific technique for attaching the neck because they enjoy it based on their own experiences and have practical reasons for using it. I have built 60 neck through, 60 set necks (which does not mean anything really unless we specifically talk about the way Gibson attaches necks? Because there are several ways to set in a neck as we all know - hopefully) and after that I decided to exclusively switch to bolt-on because I found exactly what I wanted in that technique for my personal tastes and it also matches my philosophy and I am now at 280 guitars.... There is no bad ways to attach a neck, some companies use techniques to speed up CNC processes, this is why you dont always see a nice heel carve on most cheap ass 600$ neck through guitars BUT as small makers, we have the advantage to choose whichever techniques we wish and we perfect it. Now comparing a set in Vs neck through factory guitars and a set in Vs neck through handmade guitar MAKES EXTREME NON SENS.... That's just my 2 cents.....

Better pics, sorry for the shitty ones from yesterday

So I have been using this technique today and did wet the area which I was going to route... In this case routing an ebony top and had to cut extremely clean bevels on the mahogany body... All went perfect with no tear off, here are some pics... (edit: next post)

That would be nice wouldn't it?

You know what would be very fancy? Its much harder to do though at least if you go CNC because the programm is much more complicated to write... Would be to have the logo stick out in 3D on the top of the pickup so that you can feel it.... Bartolini do that on their bass pickups...

I've tried both ways, I prefer to glue the top and the body together as a big blank... Then I cut out the shape... I'm about to actually cut out the shape on this piece here, just finished jointing and gluying the top...

I have no idea where to post this... Anyway I had these aluminium logo's cut out by CNC at one point for my headstocks and I had this idea to give them a Hydrochloric acid bath... Turned out that it takes off all the small machine marks but also gives it a really cool matt finish, almost like its been sanded... Of course (thypical Patrick), I later on learned that this is a very commun technique which is being used to distress aluminium Made this video... Aluminium Corrosion And here is the result...

Looks awesome, i'm currently saving up so that I can have some new master templates cut, this time i'm going to be using swamp ash. And possibly having slanted templates made for a multi scale instrument in the futur.

John Greven is an amazing guitar builder, he came to teach us how to carve the heel on an acoustic neck and how to add his signature flower carvings when I was learning how to build guitars in Red Wing. Its a traditional spanish guitar V joint technique... OR they can also look like the way Greven does it... Cedar has been used for centuries as a neck material on classical guitars. Its very stable and extremely light. Here is a video about the first technique like on the first two pictures I posted:

I found this video on youtube which kind of explains the process...

Rings are anyway a matter of personal preference. The thing is, indeed some designs can look better direct mount. In my case I find that rings add a sharper look to my instruments. There is also the wood options, I have one model ''albinodroid'' on which I use flame maple rings which match the fingerboard, the covers being chrome reflect the rest of the hardware colour... In this case the rings are totally all part of the design...

I have my very own rings design for my 8 string guitars, Its an epoxy cast so they are all solid inside. I'm about to do the same for my 6 and 7 strings, just need some cash for creating the master templates, I usually use sanded aluminium because I love the result. Once you build the master template you can then make a mould and cast them as much as you wish, Kent does it for me:

hehehe I like that

I was finally able to take a picture of this insane macassar ebony top!

Ed Roman is,and as a result alot of custom builders are promoting it...but it isn't hyped in the mainstream yet.It may be next though once Jumbo frets keep dying down and laminated necks become "old hat"...The market will always try to make the next "hottest thing" they can use to claim they make better guitars. Exactly and also because some ''metal icons'' like to have direct mount, you can be sure that 99.9999999% of the requests I receive want direct mount because XXXX has his guitar set up this way.... You know to me its all cool but at one point people do not think anymore and dont take a personal decision, they relie on what's out there... I would much prefer somebody who contacts me and says ''I would like direct mount pickups'' instead of ''I would like direct mount pickups because xxxx has a guitar set up that way''

Got this insane Pauo Ferro board today! One of my all time favourite fingerboard wood choice.

Thats a nice collection you have there! I go hunting sometimes and I find pieces of wood that look like this in the rough... Then look like this once finished... Turned out to be a gorgeous piece of flatsawn zebrano, perfect for an awesome top... Anybody would probably trash away the piece of wood from the first picture

I use either rings or direct mount on my instruments... I dont think that its a question of looking better or not but: I have noticed that direct mount is not cool anymore but has become a MAJOR FREEKING HYPE and I always find it amusing when I get a player knocking at my front door because his got a problem with his direct mounted pickup I've only ever seen 2 guitars which had an issue in my entire 15 years as a luthier when repairing guitars with mounting rings, that would be that the pickup wings truss came loose...... However I've seen many many direct mount holes get loose, instability of the pickups and adjusting problems reported for direct mount. Altough I offer both, I by far prefer and recommend mounting rings to my customers because it protect the pickups from lateral shocks and makes everything easier to adjust. For direct mount, I use foam under the pickups to give them some spring.

I just plained this epic piece of claro walnut today for my up comming 30'' scale baritone 8 string guitar, tought I would share... Perfectly quatersawn and ready to work on. Its very old, and it was cut down 100 years ago, its also been in my workshop in a controled environnement for about 2 years, its umbalivably stable.

I nominate Girafman The most underated professional guitar player ever... sorry had too