This was actually really interesting. I'd always wondered why they'd done it that way. As someone who builds guitars solely as a hobby (and extras get given away, I don't do this for money) I prefer the bolt on neck, but only because I can take it off and shim the neck if I screw it up.
Let’s remember these guitars were built in the 50s with 50s technology. These days we have more and better options. Furthermore in my Guitar building experiences my neck tennon goes all the way up to the bridge and links with the bridge foundations and l Bolt down my bridges directly to the body for superior coupling and tone transfer that is worth the effort.I tried this on my flying V build And it blew my mind On how the tone and sustain were brought to the next level, you should try it… Keep on rocking…
@@samosaarts I agree. My favorite construction and look. And especially with with trans colored bodies and single bridge pickup guitars. Smooth all the way thru. Set neck guitars with just a bridge pickup and trans colored bodies bug me as I can still see that transition on top where the neck pickup would have been. Neck thru and bolt on for me with single bridge pickup guitars and that`s basically all i buy or have made. Thusly, I am working up a build to send to Matt and Chris that is a Firebird meets Explorer and definitely going neck thru and single bridge humbucker.
One thing as a woodworker that I don't understand is why they don't equalize the amount of wood in the joint. You have a thick piece on the neck joining to a much thinner shoulder on the guitar. This makes the wood on the body the weak point. If they were to make a thicker shoulder on the body and thin out the neck at the joint to where they were both equal thickness, the force on the joint would be distributed more evenly.
I don’t know why they don’t use a larger/longer tenon on the SG. I’ve seen a fair number of SGs with neck joint issues. I don’t think there’s enough wood there, especially for a short tenon.
The SG is really thin and taking away material from the body to add tenon length just transfers the breaking point from the neck to the body. When Les Paul originally proposed the SG he intended it to be a neck-through design to allow it to be so thin. When Gibson started building them they went to a tenon because the neck-through was too expensive. Les hated it and told them to take his name off it, hence why it got the name SG (Solid Guitar) as they had to come up with something to replace the Les Paul name. Edit: To add to this, he mentions in the video that their neck pockets are 1 inch deep, an SG body is only about 1 and 3/8 inches thick. A 1 inch deep pocket removes over 70% of the wood from the body. The SG neck pockets are actually about an inch deep too. Also the "Wedge" construction is what early SGs had and they were even worse in terms of neck issues. It doesn't add a ton of glued area. Bolt-on or Bolt-in necks don't break as easily because the long grain bears the stress. Glued necks will just always be weaker.
Great explanation Matt. Have you ever considered blending the heel of the neck to the front of the neck pocket? So instead of that 90 degree step you get something more comfortable to play?
@@TexasToastGuitars I don't think the poster was saying your guitars were uncomfortable. He's positing the idea that a shaped neck heels are more comfortable to play. We know why only a couple of manufacturers do this (it's labor intensive and hard to do) so why not just say that instead of pretending you don't understand the question?
I was reading somewhere that Gibson alternated years as far as a neck tenon. Like I have a '16 Trad and it has a long tenon More tone, sustain and a firm seat in the pocket. My other three Les Pauls I've owned over the years have had a combination of long and short tenons. They were a 68 Deluxe, a 71 LPC and a 76 standard, Each of these, including the 16 had different length tenons which varied in the added vibration throughout the guitar giving different tonal values. I also own a 13 SG which has that short tenon, but it plays and sounds amazing like my Les Paul Traditional. I've loved Gibson since the mid 60s and I'm proud to own two more...Not For Sale!!!
Could you think of posting (if not yet posted) a video about the string alignment. From time to time I see instruments with the string misalignment. What is the root cause of it? How do you check the string alignment? What clearance / tolerance do you use (numbers)?
Imo, I think they should manufacture and sell set neck joints like Les Pauls Diy Kits without the 4.5 degree angle.. every one that I've assembled required shimming to be playable. None have fit with simple assembly... specifically Leo Jaymz, Fretwire...
Some good points and ideas there. I’m, starting to lean more towards bolt on neck these days. I just think the fact they can be adjusted later on if needed make them more useful. I think some people look down their nose at bolt on necks as they’ve been used on cheaper versions of guitars that usually have set necks but in reality they are just as good as set necks. With a micro adjustment screw and a tight fit, there’s no difference in quality from a set neck and you can sort any slight problems that might arise later in the guitars life.
I have a les paul with a bolt on neck. Looking at the front of the guitar, the left side of the necks heel is fitted tightly against the wall of the pocket. However, the right side of the necks heel is not even touching the shorter wall on the othr side of the pocket. Theres this thin gap which ive also noticed on other 70s les paul style guitars with bolt in necks. Question is, should i jam a thin piece of wood into that gap to make a tighter fit? That shorter wall on the right of the pocket is rather thin and might just crack if the neck is too snug. I have no idea why the guitar was built this way!
After my R8 I would not have a Les Paul without a long tenon! Owned alot of Paul's and was blown away with the original construction and long tenon! The tone is far superior and the overall feel is tremoundous!
"After my R8 I would not have a Les Paul without a long tenon!" You're wasting money. When it comes to gibson, one neck joint is as good as the other, since they don't do them right regardless of the type of joint it is. If you have a les paul that has a neck joint which makes 100% contact with the body then you got lucky. Those are few and far between and the superiority of that guitar is not due to the long tenon, it's due to the tech installing the neck properly, which is above and beyond what Gibson requires of their employees. When Gibson went to the rocker joint they lost the skill of setting necks because on the rocker they started using the neck heel to cover up the joint where the neck meets the body since there is always a gap with that type of tenon. But then they kept that style neck heel for all types of tenons. In a 59 les paul, the tenon had to sit flush against the body because a gap would have been visible, but now that it is hidden, they leave a gap because it's quicker to set a neck that way. As long as gibson keeps using that kind of neck heel then most of their necks will be set wrong. I've seen pics of historic les paul makeovers with an 1/8th inch gap between the tenon and the body. When people get their guitar back they think the hide glue made it sound way better when the tech actually fixing the joint is what did it. Greco calls their long tenons "large area contact" tenons because that gets to the point- it's not the length of the tenon that matters, it's how much of it that's firmly contacting the body that matters. Greco's most expensive and desirable guitars (super real series) all have medium tenon necks and they all sound better than les pauls with long tenons.
Never been a fan of the Corvus either, but I played one at a music shop for giggles (the single pickup one) and was blown away at how good it played and sounded. I sometimes regret not buying it, but for the unforgivable fugliness.
The Les Paul and ES series have a “Shouldered” tenon precisely for the reason you mentioned it allows for a more seamless cosmetic blend at the cutaway. Yes it requires a more precise level of construction and that’s what separates a Fender from a Gibson.
My favorite and best sounding SG doesn't have a cracked neck joint, but the joint area is SUPER WEAK. The strap pin is attached to the back of the joint and the guitar goes out of tune when I stand or sit down. I have to retune for each position and it's maddening!
Hi I just saw your post. I just restored a 1970 SG with a very bad neck-body break. I found that the bottom of the neckheel was not resting/connected with the body! it had a approix 1mm gap. That is in the area where the strapbutton is. Maybe your problem is resolved now , but I wantet to let you know. but: how to fix this. Maybe somebody has a smart way of fixing this without taking the neck off. one way can be to fill the gap with epoxy, (Laparoscopy, keyhole surgery)! but that would be a very controversial method.
I think the deeper the set neck the better, and the larger the tenon is, the better. I like your neck joint style. It's as big as you can get and is set really deep in the body, but there's still good access to the neck up high. I think a lot of the tone transfer is in the neck joint. On bolt-on guitars, I make the neck joint as tight as I can. I will spend an hour massaging the neck to fit the body just so, this makes for a better-sounding guitar vs a sloppy Fender fit so more necks fit the bodies without any work needed to make it fit. Also: I make sure absolutely no paint gets on either the mortice or the tenon, wood on wood.
Your point is so logical, I don't know why Gibson would use that joint. From a production standpoint, it's gotta be slower than the "wedge", although it could be made easier if they waited to route/shape the bottom horn AFTER the neck was glued in...
it's tenin like mennin. About that neck joint you guys do, you say the tenon is a little wider at the pickup than it is at the neck heel. what if you hammered a shim between the body and tenon to force the tenon back (towards the nut) just to get a really, really tight neckjoint? Of course you'd have to build the tenon knowing it is going to be shifted backwards a little bit. Do you think that would have any noticeable effect on sustain, etc. or would it be just trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist?
I don't know why they call it a mortise and tenon, as in the traditional woodworking sense , that joint looks more like a half-lap than a true mortise and tenon which is enclosed on all sides
Would love to see what a neck heel on those very curved esp eclipses look like, just such a great looking and ergonomic solution. Ive first seen those on 80s Aria Pro Lps. Now harley benton uses them too.
I have a neck-thru Les Paul copy and a short-tenon Gibson les paul. There is no appreciable difference in tone or sustain. Both running Faber hardware and duncan antiquities.
I'm a big fan of bolt on necks mainly so I can change necks on any guitar to a different profile whenever I want. Also because it always amazes me that necks when strung under tension stay together with just glue holding them. Glue is never that strong for me.
@@DieselBadger60 Yeah. This guys is clueless about animal hide glues. When you them on wood and try to break them apart, the wood goes out first before the joint. Lots of videos about this. It's amazing.
The sides of your wedge may be 90 degrees to the bottom until you put a, say, 4 degree angle on the bottom of it. Then the sides of your wedge are not at 90 degrees and also no longer parallel to the sides of the pocket. It would be more appropriate to route the pocket with a jig at the same angle. Then wedge or no wedge the mortise and tenon sides will remain parallel.
I wanted some information about the neck of SG, what is the best type of neck on SG guitars, whether it is type C or type U. On an SG guitar the ideal would be Neck-thru or Neck-heel??
Hi J I works think that the neck through style would be the best neck for an SG Provided you were going to use the same placement b of the 22 fret that Gibson uses There isn't a whole lot of real estate for the neck pocket Haven't said that... There are thousands of SG models with solid necks so... That is a good system
I glued a neck in to a les paul unfinished body from China. I had to fit the neck by doing some fine tuning with the sanding for it to fit. It's flush at the bottom but at the top there is a small gap. I don't know if it's the way the binding was sloppy cut but I put it together and it still needs a fret leveling. I'm just concerned before I finish it if it will play well. Thanks. Do you have an email so I can show you a picture?
@@TexasToastGuitars thanks. I did send you an email with a picture about any of the issues with the angle for playability. Thanks for responding to my comment. Keep doing great work!
The "wedge" is dead simple and that's what makes it great, it just takes advantage of the natural taper of the neck's planform. Last year Gibson's youtube channel put out a multi-part series called "The Process" which shows off their manufacturing steps and in episode 7 they show the neck fitment. You can get a lot of good looks at the mortise and tenon shape before they're glued together in that video. The employees who do that step have to have special training to get the fit right, just goes to show that the mortise and tenon is kind of needlessly complicated lol.
Some of the best things in the world are relatively simple. Gibson has used the wedge shape neck joint for decades and it's odd to me that they don't use it more.
@@TexasToastGuitars , if mortise and tenon is that difficult to make, and also indispensable for their premier instrument, maybe they want to support a robust pool of people who know how to make it.
Perfect timing on this! I’m building an SG style guitar and I wanted to use a wedge shape neck joint. How do you determine the depth of the neck pocket for a guitar with a tunomatic bridge? I’ve only made fender style bodies in the past and they are all around 5/8” deep.
he mentioned putting the angle on the neck heel. You have to shave down a wedge there so the angle of the fretboard come up from the body. You are used to a totally flat neck construction. I picked up ramp templates from Potvin Guitars so I can angle my pocket or heel.
@@michaelmenkesOZSKIB The guys at Potvin are super cool and they make great stuff. In my estimation, you are making more of a deal of the angle than you need to.
ok i get what your saying 1 question how is it to get into the higher frets. I see alot of builders shave that neck joint down. but i have not seen that on your guitars
great video. I am about to make a couple traditional flying V's and I have bought laser cut templates that include both the mortice and the tenon. Isn't my easiest route (pardon the pun, or don't) just to follow the template? isn't the parallel sides of the mortice and tenon going to make my neck angling EASIER? (I also have a 3 degree routing ramp)
There is a version of a LP type single cut using 1/2 wedge (on the non-cutaway side) and 1/2 tenon (on the cutaway section), 1" neck pocket, no botom cut on the "Tenon", just flat. I just hate how THOSE type use a CNC that leaves a divit on the tenon side that makes little sense other than "meh, no one will see that"... If it was done nicely, it's a cool idea. Makes for a better neck joint, but leaves some meat on the cutaway side. A Double cutaway LP would still require a tenon setup, though...if'n ya wanted that flat cutaway with binding look.
Umm, how about the playability in the upper frets? You talk a lot about the joint from the builders perspective, but for me it seems that you just made the bad upper fret access of Les Pauls even worse. Would be nice to test one of your guitars to see how they feel. PRS uses the same style of joint as you do, but they don't join the neck to the body at 16th fret as in Les Pauls.
You are certainly welcome to come play one of our guitars. We aren't the only people who use this technique, you could try a Knaggs they have some extra meat there too. If access to the upper frets is a paramount concern we have other models that you might like better than our single cutaway.
We don't do very many neck through designs these days but have done lots back in the day. I think it is a more complicated design. Mostly because in 2021 people don't want neck through guitars like the ones that were popular in the late 70's... they seem to want caps etc. You don't have to take my word for it and I encourage you to do some digging, I might be dead wrong?
Sorry Matt, I like my cutaway to be flush with the neck and I dont have any problems cutting the mortice and tenon or angling the neck so I'll keep doing it that way. I think your style is one of the best I have seen but its just not for me. Great vid as usual though!!!
@@TexasToastGuitars you're right. prs simplified the joint, i don't know if he's every done a tenon like the gibson LP. Most of his tenons or joints are modeled from the jrs. love your videos. Would like to hang out with guys soon.
Well... if you are building a Les Paul than you will need to angle the body. This is because the neck that is above the body is parallel to the top. I hope this makes sense. In case I'm confusing you, the binding should be parallel to the top. As I recall the neck pocket on an LP is about 4 degrees and the pickup plane is like 2 something. I'm sure you have looked into this and know more about it than I am recalling right now. In any case, the Les Paul is a tricky guitar to get right. BUT, I think it is totally worth building
I love your joint. The thing that bugs me the most about modern Gibsons is the rocker aspect of it. It creates less glue surface but more than anything just seems lazy.
The neck tenon took a hit when they started using the short neck tenon vs the long neck tenon. I know this is a controversial topic but a longer tenon will create a more stable neck, IMO.. A stable neck would translate into a guitar that stays in tune better, and could very well have better sustain. (That is the controversial part). Many will say it has no effect on sustain, and I suppose with all of the amps and pedals out today that may not matter. But stability does. Then you have the Epiphone bolt on necks. I know that's not much of an issue for a Gibson but there are a few older Gibson models that have a bolt on neck. There is really only one thing I don't like about bolt on necks. Most players looking to resolve an angle issue, will sometimes use a shim. The shim by itself isn't the problem. It's when they put a shim in that only sits in the first quarter to half inch of the pocket. That being said, they do achieve what they are looking for but if they don't use a wedge type shim that fills the entire gap in the pocket, they can at a minimum lose some sustain. I guess that's subjective as well, but I wouldn't shim a neck of any of my guitars unless I used a wedge type shim. Better safe than sorry.
That photo is from before the Gibson floods in 2010. After that machining was introduced to increase the accuracy of the neck pocket and tenon so the rocker tenon had died out. Why rehash history unless you're discussing what to encounter on older Gibsons.
@@TexasToastGuitars me either, I enjoy the channel periodically but using a very old picture which doesn't have several of the newer tenon designs Gibson has used since may have people running around thinking they still do the old rocker tenon is all I was saying. I didn't bother watching this video because the information is dated.
@@TexasToastGuitars Thanks for the reply Matt. I might mention this is Anna's husband, Byron. Since I don't have a Google account my messages attach as if they are hers. The only thing she knows about guitars is how to get up after falling over one of the many I have around the house. Poor Girl. I love watching your videos and try not to miss any of them. I'm a retired musician and now build very expensive guitars for a hobby. My wife once told me, "If you buy one more guitar, I'm moving in with our daughter." I have bought three since then and built half a dozen. She's still here. The silly girl doesn't take the hint. LOL. Tell Chris I love watching him too. Thanks. Sign me stuck in N.E. Arizona and wondering why. LOL.
I'm thinking Sgs and 335s also have to have tenons or the only glue surface is the bottom of the pocket. And the sides would look rather strange as well. The picture of that short tenon is shameful. Shame on you Gibson.
At the end of the day, speaking from a traditional joinery point of view, that "wedge" neck joint (as you call it) that you are using on your challenger is still a mortice and tenon. The Gibson joint is technically a "stepped mortice and tenon". Setting the terminology aside, great description of why you'd use one over the other Matt. 😎
I think anything other than the original tenon on a Les Paul would look awful, it's very elegant and looks like a luthier has done it rather than someone doing their first woodworking project. The only guitar that a full neck width tenon should be used on is a double cut away, like the Les Paul Special, for the sake of a little extra work it's well worth, I realise that the traditional tenon needs some hand work, rather than being able to be cut solely with a pin router or CNC machine, surely that's why we're luthiers rather than furniture makers at Ikea.
You can build a neck joint that looks like a LP but doesn't require the extra meat like the Challenger by using a hybrid design. The bass side can be a wedge but the treble side can look like the Gibson tenon. You just make the treble side neck pocket 3/8"(ish) narrower to leave some meat and take 3/8" off the treble side of the neck. Then the transition from the neck to body is smooth like the LP.
Why couldn't you just use a well-fit one sided wedge? There would still be a nice transition between the neck and body joint it would just be farther down the neck. I would think the glue surface on the bottom and one side would be plenty strong.
You guys in the US are so lucky to have everything available there. I would get a Collings over a Gibson. Collings build quality, everything about them is just stellar.
Is that the best you can do when attempting to correct someone? Laughing at the person and talking down to them, asking them to defend themselves? You have a lot to learn…
pedant mode - Technically, its not a mortice and tenon Gibson use, its a half lap joint. In a mortice and tenon joint, the tenon is enclosed on all 4 sides by the mortice with all sorts of fancy variations such as haunches and wedges, depending on the application. But I guess names mean different things in guitars, after all the vibrato is called a tremelo on the Strat when its not, and the tremelo is called vibrato on Fender amps. Go figure. /pedant mode
The headstock design sucks on 1pc. mahogany necks too! One wrong move, and... SNAP!!! Great money-maker for us guitar repairmen though. ;) Gotta say, with the thousands of guitars I've repaired over my 4+ decades career, I'm more of a Fender guy.
This was actually really interesting. I'd always wondered why they'd done it that way.
As someone who builds guitars solely as a hobby (and extras get given away, I don't do this for money) I prefer the bolt on neck, but only because I can take it off and shim the neck if I screw it up.
There are lots of advantages to screwing the neck to the body
Let’s remember these guitars were built in the 50s with 50s technology. These days we have more and better options. Furthermore in my Guitar building experiences my neck tennon goes all the way up to the bridge and links with the bridge foundations and l Bolt down my bridges directly to the body for superior coupling and tone transfer that is worth the effort.I tried this on my flying V build And it blew my mind On how the tone and sustain were brought to the next level, you should try it… Keep on rocking…
You never know what I'll do next
Why not neck through then? Basically the same principle, one whole piece of neck...
@@samosaarts I agree. My favorite construction and look. And especially with with trans colored bodies and single bridge pickup guitars. Smooth all the way thru. Set neck guitars with just a bridge pickup and trans colored bodies bug me as I can still see that transition on top where the neck pickup would have been. Neck thru and bolt on for me with single bridge pickup guitars and that`s basically all i buy or have made. Thusly, I am working up a build to send to Matt and Chris that is a Firebird meets Explorer and definitely going neck thru and single bridge humbucker.
One thing as a woodworker that I don't understand is why they don't equalize the amount of wood in the joint. You have a thick piece on the neck joining to a much thinner shoulder on the guitar. This makes the wood on the body the weak point. If they were to make a thicker shoulder on the body and thin out the neck at the joint to where they were both equal thickness, the force on the joint would be distributed more evenly.
I don’t know why they don’t use a larger/longer tenon on the SG. I’ve seen a fair number of SGs with neck joint issues. I don’t think there’s enough wood there, especially for a short tenon.
I think it's a design flaw to not have a little more glue surface
The SG is really thin and taking away material from the body to add tenon length just transfers the breaking point from the neck to the body. When Les Paul originally proposed the SG he intended it to be a neck-through design to allow it to be so thin. When Gibson started building them they went to a tenon because the neck-through was too expensive. Les hated it and told them to take his name off it, hence why it got the name SG (Solid Guitar) as they had to come up with something to replace the Les Paul name.
Edit: To add to this, he mentions in the video that their neck pockets are 1 inch deep, an SG body is only about 1 and 3/8 inches thick. A 1 inch deep pocket removes over 70% of the wood from the body. The SG neck pockets are actually about an inch deep too. Also the "Wedge" construction is what early SGs had and they were even worse in terms of neck issues. It doesn't add a ton of glued area. Bolt-on or Bolt-in necks don't break as easily because the long grain bears the stress. Glued necks will just always be weaker.
Great explanation Matt. Have you ever considered blending the heel of the neck to the front of the neck pocket? So instead of that 90 degree step you get something more comfortable to play?
I don't think our guitars are uncomfortable to play...
@@TexasToastGuitars I don't think the poster was saying your guitars were uncomfortable. He's positing the idea that a shaped neck heels are more comfortable to play. We know why only a couple of manufacturers do this (it's labor intensive and hard to do) so why not just say that instead of pretending you don't understand the question?
I was reading somewhere that Gibson alternated years as far as a neck tenon. Like I have a '16 Trad and it has a long tenon More tone, sustain and a firm seat in the pocket. My other three Les Pauls I've owned over the years have had a combination of long and short tenons. They were a 68 Deluxe, a 71 LPC and a 76 standard, Each of these, including the 16 had different length tenons which varied in the added vibration throughout the guitar giving different tonal values. I also own a 13 SG which has that short tenon, but it plays and sounds amazing like my Les Paul Traditional. I've loved Gibson since the mid 60s and I'm proud to own two more...Not For Sale!!!
Good explanation Matt!! Makes sense that the neck design results in the look/resultant angle you are looking for when the neck is glued in.
Thanks man, we will be using these neck joints in November too
@@TexasToastGuitars Really?!?! We will have to talk soon on that. It is coming up quickly.
Could you think of posting (if not yet posted) a video about the string alignment. From time to time I see instruments with the string misalignment. What is the root cause of it? How do you check the string alignment? What clearance / tolerance do you use (numbers)?
Good video. Easier fit with your method..BUT...... gluing the fretboard to the body, must add quite a bit of strength to the joint.
This is my bane in doing diy les pauls!!!! Great video! Now I know it's just a common trait in set necks and not quite a manufacturer defect... 👍
Imo, I think they should manufacture and sell set neck joints like Les Pauls Diy Kits without the 4.5 degree angle.. every one that I've assembled required shimming to be playable. None have fit with simple assembly... specifically Leo Jaymz, Fretwire...
Some good points and ideas there. I’m, starting to lean more towards bolt on neck these days. I just think the fact they can be adjusted later on if needed make them more useful. I think some people look down their nose at bolt on necks as they’ve been used on cheaper versions of guitars that usually have set necks but in reality they are just as good as set necks. With a micro adjustment screw and a tight fit, there’s no difference in quality from a set neck and you can sort any slight problems that might arise later in the guitars life.
I like bolt on necks
I have a les paul with a bolt on neck. Looking at the front of the guitar, the left side of the necks heel is fitted tightly against the wall of the pocket. However, the right side of the necks heel is not even touching the shorter wall on the othr side of the pocket. Theres this thin gap which ive also noticed on other 70s les paul style guitars with bolt in necks. Question is, should i jam a thin piece of wood into that gap to make a tighter fit? That shorter wall on the right of the pocket is rather thin and might just crack if the neck is too snug. I have no idea why the guitar was built this way!
how would one make the wedge joint work in a les paul? have you found a work around texas toast
This was a very helpful video. Thanks. I'd like to see more videos like this in the future. Mucho respect, Guitardave of Tulsa
Glad it was helpful my friend
After my R8 I would not have a Les Paul without a long tenon! Owned alot of Paul's and was blown away with the original construction and long tenon! The tone is far superior and the overall feel is tremoundous!
They are super cool
How does the tenon affect the feel? Just curious 🤔
"After my R8 I would not have a Les Paul without a long tenon!"
You're wasting money. When it comes to gibson, one neck joint is as good as the other, since they don't do them right regardless of the type of joint it is. If you have a les paul that has a neck joint which makes 100% contact with the body then you got lucky. Those are few and far between and the superiority of that guitar is not due to the long tenon, it's due to the tech installing the neck properly, which is above and beyond what Gibson requires of their employees.
When Gibson went to the rocker joint they lost the skill of setting necks because on the rocker they started using the neck heel to cover up the joint where the neck meets the body since there is always a gap with that type of tenon. But then they kept that style neck heel for all types of tenons. In a 59 les paul, the tenon had to sit flush against the body because a gap would have been visible, but now that it is hidden, they leave a gap because it's quicker to set a neck that way. As long as gibson keeps using that kind of neck heel then most of their necks will be set wrong. I've seen pics of historic les paul makeovers with an 1/8th inch gap between the tenon and the body. When people get their guitar back they think the hide glue made it sound way better when the tech actually fixing the joint is what did it.
Greco calls their long tenons "large area contact" tenons because that gets to the point- it's not the length of the tenon that matters, it's how much of it that's firmly contacting the body that matters. Greco's most expensive and desirable guitars (super real series) all have medium tenon necks and they all sound better than les pauls with long tenons.
Yeah thats real smooth having it wedged in like that. Im getting a wood shaper and hoping I'll be able to contour necks, bodies and bindings.
The shaper is one cool tool
Texas toast drinking game. Every time Matt says pin router, drink.
Enjoy
Really great reasoning! I'm getting envious for the Challenger!
Good choice brotherman
Never been a fan of the Corvus either, but I played one at a music shop for giggles (the single pickup one) and was blown away at how good it played and sounded. I sometimes regret not buying it, but for the unforgivable fugliness.
We all joke around about the Corvus
@@TexasToastGuitars Well, we should, it’s frakkin’ silly😆😆 Still, that damned thing played so good. Proof God is a smart aleck😆
The Les Paul and ES series have a “Shouldered” tenon precisely for the reason you mentioned it allows for a more seamless cosmetic blend at the cutaway. Yes it requires a more precise level of construction and that’s what separates a Fender from a Gibson.
That's cool man
Agree 👍
I disagree with a lot of what you talk about on your channel, but this was bang on the money! great stuff, very clear and well put.
Thanks for watching
My favorite and best sounding SG doesn't have a cracked neck joint, but the joint area is SUPER WEAK.
The strap pin is attached to the back of the joint and the guitar goes out of tune when I stand or sit down. I have to retune for each position and it's maddening!
Hi I just saw your post. I just restored a 1970 SG with a very bad neck-body break. I found that the bottom of the neckheel was not resting/connected with the body! it had a approix 1mm gap. That is in the area where the strapbutton is. Maybe your problem is resolved now , but I wantet to let you know. but: how to fix this. Maybe somebody has a smart way of fixing this without taking the neck off. one way can be to fill the gap with epoxy, (Laparoscopy, keyhole surgery)! but that would be a very controversial method.
Are the longer tenons called elevenons?
HAHAHA Yes
Maybe an only plus with he lp joint,is the extra ''glue surface''? A bit like the connections in carpentry..
Glue surface is important
I think the deeper the set neck the better, and the larger the tenon is, the better. I like your neck joint style. It's as big as you can get and is set really deep in the body, but there's still good access to the neck up high. I think a lot of the tone transfer is in the neck joint. On bolt-on guitars, I make the neck joint as tight as I can. I will spend an hour massaging the neck to fit the body just so, this makes for a better-sounding guitar vs a sloppy Fender fit so more necks fit the bodies without any work needed to make it fit.
Also: I make sure absolutely no paint gets on either the mortice or the tenon, wood on wood.
I like your style Fred
Your point is so logical, I don't know why Gibson would use that joint. From a production standpoint, it's gotta be slower than the "wedge", although it could be made easier if they waited to route/shape the bottom horn AFTER the neck was glued in...
I certainly don't know why they continue to use it on lots of designs... I can understand on the Les Paul
it's tenin like mennin. About that neck joint you guys do, you say the tenon is a little wider at the pickup than it is at the neck heel. what if you hammered a shim between the body and tenon to force the tenon back (towards the nut) just to get a really, really tight neckjoint? Of course you'd have to build the tenon knowing it is going to be shifted backwards a little bit. Do you think that would have any noticeable effect on sustain, etc. or would it be just trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist?
I don't know why they call it a mortise and tenon, as in the traditional woodworking sense , that joint looks more like a half-lap than a true mortise and tenon which is enclosed on all sides
Would love to see what a neck heel on those very curved esp eclipses look like, just such a great looking and ergonomic solution. Ive first seen those on 80s Aria Pro Lps. Now harley benton uses them too.
Great suggestion
I have a neck-thru Les Paul copy and a short-tenon Gibson les paul. There is no appreciable difference in tone or sustain. Both running Faber hardware and duncan antiquities.
Better transfer of vibration of strings to body with tenon?
Better than what. I can't tell if you are defending the Gibson neck joint or something else
versus bolt-on@@TexasToastGuitars I think this is what Gibson claim
Keep up the good work. I enjoy your videos. I just made my first guitar and loving it. I really like those Challenger Guitars!
Rock on!
I'm a big fan of bolt on necks mainly so I can change necks on any guitar to a different profile whenever I want. Also because it always amazes me that necks when strung under tension stay together with just glue holding them. Glue is never that strong for me.
Wood glue is a lot stronger than you think
@@DieselBadger60 Yeah. This guys is clueless about animal hide glues. When you them on wood and try to break them apart, the wood goes out first before the joint. Lots of videos about this. It's amazing.
The sides of your wedge may be 90 degrees to the bottom until you put a, say, 4 degree angle on the bottom of it. Then the sides of your wedge are not at 90 degrees and also no longer parallel to the sides of the pocket. It would be more appropriate to route the pocket with a jig at the same angle. Then wedge or no wedge the mortise and tenon sides will remain parallel.
Ugh
we don't use a 4 degree angle.
I wanted some information about the neck of SG, what is the best type of neck on SG guitars, whether it is type C or type U. On an SG guitar the ideal would be Neck-thru or Neck-heel??
Hi J
I works think that the neck through style would be the best neck for an SG
Provided you were going to use the same placement b of the 22 fret that Gibson uses
There isn't a whole lot of real estate for the neck pocket
Haven't said that...
There are thousands of SG models with solid necks so...
That is a good system
These set necks seems to be too complicated versus neck through. Would love a video about set necks vs neck throughs
We don't do a lot of neck through guitars these days but I'll see what I can do
I glued a neck in to a les paul unfinished body from China. I had to fit the neck by doing some fine tuning with the sanding for it to fit. It's flush at the bottom but at the top there is a small gap. I don't know if it's the way the binding was sloppy cut but I put it together and it still needs a fret leveling. I'm just concerned before I finish it if it will play well. Thanks. Do you have an email so I can show you a picture?
I'm not too familiar with kits, you should see if Brad Angove or Mike Learn have any tips. They know the most of any guys I know.
@@TexasToastGuitars thanks. I did send you an email with a picture about any of the issues with the angle for playability. Thanks for responding to my comment. Keep doing great work!
The "wedge" is dead simple and that's what makes it great, it just takes advantage of the natural taper of the neck's planform. Last year Gibson's youtube channel put out a multi-part series called "The Process" which shows off their manufacturing steps and in episode 7 they show the neck fitment. You can get a lot of good looks at the mortise and tenon shape before they're glued together in that video. The employees who do that step have to have special training to get the fit right, just goes to show that the mortise and tenon is kind of needlessly complicated lol.
Some of the best things in the world are relatively simple.
Gibson has used the wedge shape neck joint for decades and it's odd to me that they don't use it more.
@@TexasToastGuitars , if mortise and tenon is that difficult to make, and also indispensable for their premier instrument, maybe they want to support a robust pool of people who know how to make it.
@@marxug1 This is a language you would need to take up with Gibson
Love your "wedge" joint, my next build is going to be an SG - what's your suggestion - classic gibson or your wedge?
We use the wedge
My 1964 Gibson Firebird III doesn't have a joint. If it breaks, well, its done!
Not necessarily, John Entwistle had the same thing happen
You are the Man!!! Your videos are top notch. I have watched so many of them you are a great teacher. Thank you so Much!
B
You are very welcome my friend, thanks for the kind words
Should’ve watched this video yesterday before I started carving one of these tenons 😂
You can do it... you just might not want to do it over and over again
Perfect timing on this! I’m building an SG style guitar and I wanted to use a wedge shape neck joint. How do you determine the depth of the neck pocket for a guitar with a tunomatic bridge? I’ve only made fender style bodies in the past and they are all around 5/8” deep.
When we make SG shapes we use a 1" deep neck pocket then fit the neck to the body... making sure to account for the bridge height
he mentioned putting the angle on the neck heel. You have to shave down a wedge there so the angle of the fretboard come up from the body. You are used to a totally flat neck construction. I picked up ramp templates from Potvin Guitars so I can angle my pocket or heel.
@@michaelmenkesOZSKIB The guys at Potvin are super cool and they make great stuff. In my estimation, you are making more of a deal of the angle than you need to.
@@TexasToastGuitars thanks. I’m a bit terrified of the angle.
@@michaelmenkesOZSKIB I picked up the Same templates from Potvin. Waiting for them to arrive in the mail!
ok i get what your saying 1 question how is it to get into the higher frets. I see alot of builders shave that neck joint down. but i have not seen that on your guitars
You should come play one of ours and see
great video. I am about to make a couple traditional flying V's and I have bought laser cut templates that include both the mortice and the tenon. Isn't my easiest route (pardon the pun, or don't) just to follow the template? isn't the parallel sides of the mortice and tenon going to make my neck angling EASIER? (I also have a 3 degree routing ramp)
Hi Michael, you might consider a test run of the templates on some other than guitar wood to see if things work out like you think they will.
@@TexasToastGuitars thanks. I need to see how things fit when the angle is applied.
Have you had any problem with the tab on the inside of the cut away cracking over time?
No.
I really do like these short 5 to 20 minute episodes.
I like em' too Greg
could you get the neck pocket transition on a les paul by doing neck through rather than a tenon like that?
No, the cutaway area would show differently than the classic with that style of construction
great video Matt. Thanks so much.
Glad you liked it brotherman
Cool and useful video. Subscribed
I’m still harboring some resentments towards Gibson. I’d buy another brand before I’d buy one of their guitars. Informative video!! Thanks!!
I hear ya Doug
There is a version of a LP type single cut using 1/2 wedge (on the non-cutaway side) and 1/2 tenon (on the cutaway section), 1" neck pocket, no botom cut on the "Tenon", just flat. I just hate how THOSE type use a CNC that leaves a divit on the tenon side that makes little sense other than "meh, no one will see that"... If it was done nicely, it's a cool idea. Makes for a better neck joint, but leaves some meat on the cutaway side. A Double cutaway LP would still require a tenon setup, though...if'n ya wanted that flat cutaway with binding look.
You are right
I have seen the CNC neck pockets and tenons, they look pretty good
Next up: what about that Gibson fragile headstock design? High angle, huge truss nut cavity, and no scarf joint.
That would be a great video too... having said that I don't like scarf joints
@@TexasToastGuitars i don't like scarf joints myself. But do you guys even have a good way to make them?
Its far superior to have a scarf joint instead of always worrying about a headstock break
Im thankfull for gibson and epiphone,the money from the repairs on their broken neck and joints have given food on our table
😂
Hi Matt, A wedge neck joint please on my Flying V, thank you very much. ( Also no 14 -17 degree headstock angle).
Of course
what do you think of a dove tail neck joint?
Sounds cool to me
Any update for the resto mod ? …
Please forward all of these types of questions to Chris
Youre a fan of the reverse flying V?
Not really
Umm, how about the playability in the upper frets? You talk a lot about the joint from the builders perspective, but for me it seems that you just made the bad upper fret access of Les Pauls even worse. Would be nice to test one of your guitars to see how they feel. PRS uses the same style of joint as you do, but they don't join the neck to the body at 16th fret as in Les Pauls.
You are certainly welcome to come play one of our guitars.
We aren't the only people who use this technique, you could try a Knaggs they have some extra meat there too.
If access to the upper frets is a paramount concern we have other models that you might like better than our single cutaway.
So why doesn't everybody just do a neck through design? Is it a cost thing or is that actually more complicated? Seems like it would be easier.
We don't do very many neck through designs these days but have done lots back in the day. I think it is a more complicated design. Mostly because in 2021 people don't want neck through guitars like the ones that were popular in the late 70's... they seem to want caps etc.
You don't have to take my word for it and I encourage you to do some digging, I might be dead wrong?
Matt, how much neck pocket is enough for a stable glue joint? Would a regular Fender pocket be enough glue area?
Hi Jay, I think that is perfect
I should have used the wedge on the custom explorer I built . I also hate the mortise and tenon style
I think that style neck is ideal for an Explorer
Sorry Matt, I like my cutaway to be flush with the neck and I dont have any problems cutting the mortice and tenon or angling the neck so I'll keep doing it that way. I think your style is one of the best I have seen but its just not for me. Great vid as usual though!!!
*
PRS single cut neck joint... best of both worlds?? Good strong joint, decent looking joint cosmetically??
I would agree with you on half of that Joe, the world would be a boring place if we all thought the same way.
@@TexasToastGuitars you're right. prs simplified the joint, i don't know if he's every done a tenon like the gibson LP. Most of his tenons or joints are modeled from the jrs. love your videos. Would like to hang out with guys soon.
I want you guys to build a Buckethead.
That would be fun
Thanks Matt!
Thank you Pete
Does Gibson use the same method on their acoustics as well?
I don't know
The other one would be a dovetail joint
The Jr style neck joint is my favorite.
It's the hot set-up brougham, I wonder why they still use the tenon that they do on so many models?
Gibson les Paul diy is what I’m working on . Ok so grind off from the neck and not the body
Well... if you are building a Les Paul than you will need to angle the body. This is because the neck that is above the body is parallel to the top. I hope this makes sense. In case I'm confusing you, the binding should be parallel to the top.
As I recall the neck pocket on an LP is about 4 degrees and the pickup plane is like 2 something. I'm sure you have looked into this and know more about it than I am recalling right now.
In any case, the Les Paul is a tricky guitar to get right. BUT, I think it is totally worth building
I love your joint. The thing that bugs me the most about modern Gibsons is the rocker aspect of it. It creates less glue surface but more than anything just seems lazy.
Some of the examples on line are really terrible, they can't all be that bad, can they?
Steve's in Florida. With his wife. He went to Tampa with her.
The Corvus is Gibson's "Edsel".
It really is HAHAHA
The neck tenon took a hit when they started using the short neck tenon vs the long neck tenon. I know this is a controversial topic but a longer tenon will create a more stable neck, IMO.. A stable neck would translate into a guitar that stays in tune better, and could very well have better sustain. (That is the controversial part). Many will say it has no effect on sustain, and I suppose with all of the amps and pedals out today that may not matter. But stability does. Then you have the Epiphone bolt on necks. I know that's not much of an issue for a Gibson but there are a few older Gibson models that have a bolt on neck. There is really only one thing I don't like about bolt on necks. Most players looking to resolve an angle issue, will sometimes use a shim. The shim by itself isn't the problem. It's when they put a shim in that only sits in the first quarter to half inch of the pocket. That being said, they do achieve what they are looking for but if they don't use a wedge type shim that fills the entire gap in the pocket, they can at a minimum lose some sustain. I guess that's subjective as well, but I wouldn't shim a neck of any of my guitars unless I used a wedge type shim. Better safe than sorry.
I like them both but when I design guitars I always start with set neck construction
That photo is from before the Gibson floods in 2010. After that machining was introduced to increase the accuracy of the neck pocket and tenon so the rocker tenon had died out. Why rehash history unless you're discussing what to encounter on older Gibsons.
I don't want to have an argument with you about this. It's a silly exercise.
@@TexasToastGuitars me either, I enjoy the channel periodically but using a very old picture which doesn't have several of the newer tenon designs Gibson has used since may have people running around thinking they still do the old rocker tenon is all I was saying. I didn't bother watching this video because the information is dated.
A fellow AK-OU fan!
If you have seen many of my videos you will notice a lot of familiar content... and shirts
Roukangas guitars does an interesting neck joint on gibson style guitars. There is a good video documentary on youtube
Thanks man
I’d call that spot F-ing on.
Thanks amigo
Hey Matt. Forgive me Sir, but that is a Dovetail.
I would call the TTG neck joint a dovetail
@@TexasToastGuitars Thanks for the reply Matt. I might mention this is Anna's husband, Byron. Since I don't have a Google account my messages attach as if they are hers. The only thing she knows about guitars is how to get up after falling over one of the many I have around the house. Poor Girl. I love watching your videos and try not to miss any of them. I'm a retired musician and now build very expensive guitars for a hobby. My wife once told me, "If you buy one more guitar, I'm moving in with our daughter." I have bought three since then and built half a dozen. She's still here. The silly girl doesn't take the hint. LOL. Tell Chris I love watching him too. Thanks. Sign me stuck in N.E. Arizona and wondering why. LOL.
I'm thinking Sgs and 335s also have to have tenons or the only glue surface is the bottom of the pocket. And the sides would look rather strange as well. The picture of that short tenon is shameful. Shame on you Gibson.
You can use the larger neck style on the SG and 335. You do have to fit the cutaways until it looks right though
Never heard anyone pronounce tenon like that.
Now you have?
At the end of the day, speaking from a traditional joinery point of view, that "wedge" neck joint (as you call it) that you are using on your challenger is still a mortice and tenon. The Gibson joint is technically a "stepped mortice and tenon".
Setting the terminology aside, great description of why you'd use one over the other Matt. 😎
I should have said that the neck joint we use is still called a mortise and tenon
@@TexasToastGuitars You could just call it "the wedgie". 🤣
"Texas Toast Guitars, with the patented Wedgie!" 🤣😂🤣
I think anything other than the original tenon on a Les Paul would look awful, it's very elegant and looks like a luthier has done it rather than someone doing their first woodworking project. The only guitar that a full neck width tenon should be used on is a double cut away, like the Les Paul Special, for the sake of a little extra work it's well worth, I realise that the traditional tenon needs some hand work, rather than being able to be cut solely with a pin router or CNC machine, surely that's why we're luthiers rather than furniture makers at Ikea.
I had no idea there are luthiers at IKEA
@@TexasToastGuitars Probably better ones than me to be honest!
You can build a neck joint that looks like a LP but doesn't require the extra meat like the Challenger by using a hybrid design. The bass side can be a wedge but the treble side can look like the Gibson tenon. You just make the treble side neck pocket 3/8"(ish) narrower to leave some meat and take 3/8" off the treble side of the neck. Then the transition from the neck to body is smooth like the LP.
Ah, looks like Bob Quigley already mentioned this in one of his replies...
Why couldn't you just use a well-fit one sided wedge? There would still be a nice transition between the neck and body joint it would just be farther down the neck. I would think the glue surface on the bottom and one side would be plenty strong.
Please let Joe Knaggs know this as well
Wedge as long as it is wedged it's gravy and fries 🎉🎉
I'm just smart enough to know I'm not smart fyi ha ha
You guys in the US are so lucky to have everything available there. I would get a Collings over a Gibson. Collings build quality, everything about them is just stellar.
Yep
Have you seen the Epiphone Muse Les Paul. They use wedge style on the bass side and tenon style in the cutaway. Best of both worlds?
I have seen i, I think it is the best of half worlds
@@TexasToastGuitars 🤣😂
Why do you say tenon like that? 😂
It’s pronounced teh- nuhn
Nice work btw 👍🏻
*
Is that the best you can do when attempting to correct someone? Laughing at the person and talking down to them, asking them to defend themselves? You have a lot to learn…
pedant mode - Technically, its not a mortice and tenon Gibson use, its a half lap joint. In a mortice and tenon joint, the tenon is enclosed on all 4 sides by the mortice with all sorts of fancy variations such as haunches and wedges, depending on the application. But I guess names mean different things in guitars, after all the vibrato is called a tremelo on the Strat when its not, and the tremelo is called vibrato on Fender amps. Go figure. /pedant mode
Yep
It's pronounced "ten UN". Not "ten ON".
/ˈtenən/
The upside down e is the same sound you hear in the o in 'police' or a in America.
*
The headstock design sucks on 1pc. mahogany necks too! One wrong move, and... SNAP!!! Great money-maker for us guitar repairmen though. ;)
Gotta say, with the thousands of guitars I've repaired over my 4+ decades career, I'm more of a Fender guy.
That is the video I'll do next
Ten-on?
Eleven-on
You pronounce "tenon" the way Doctor Evil pronounces "laser."
I *really* don’t like that ‘extra meat’ on the outside of your neck joint - it takes the fingering hand further away from the strings.
*
Dude… you are the shit! Thanks
Me, thanks man
do you like the neck finish? because it’s the one thing i hate about gibsons
It has been a long time since I played a Gibson but I do prefer a satin finish neck
My gosh, that "fitting" of the short tenon looks like something done by kid on a woodworking class. Those Gibson neck joints are really weird
Less than awesome, right
The side view of the supposedly Gibson joint just doesn't look right, especially for the short tenon shouldn't be so round.
*
Why buy aGibson when you can get a Texas Toast?
Well, there is that
Can Gibson give us a neckthru Les Paul for Odin’s sake?
You would need to contact Gibson