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Home • Body Shape • Wood • Neck • Electronics • More Features • Care
Neck Design:
Honduran mahogany has been a first choice for acoustic and electric guitar necks for many years because of its straight grain and stability. For the greatest stability the wood grain should be perpendicular the fingerboard. The standard method that I use to achieve this is to laminate a piece of contrasting dark or figured walnut or maple (w/grain perpendicular to fretboard) between two ‘slab cut’ mahogany boards (to get the proper grain direction). For increased stability and adjustability, a 2-way adjustable truss rod is also a standard feature. Graphite neck reinforcement is also available as an option.
Neck Shape: Neck shapes are a personal preference but one that can have a great effect on your playing comfort and endurance. In many ways the neck is the thing that gives us our direct connection to the guitar and everyone knows immediately when this feels ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. String spacing is also an important consideration depending on hand size and style of playing. I will shape the neck and radius the fingerboard to suit your preferences. The chart below shows examples of common neck profiles.
Neck Joint: To attach the neck to the body, I choose to use a bolt on mortise and tenon joint for a several reasons. First, all acoustic guitars will eventually require a neck ‘reset’ to correct the neck angle after many years of stress from the strings which cause the neck to ‘back bow’. This is a much easier, (safer for your guitar) and cheaper endeavor with a bolt-on style neck. Second, the body to neck connection is actually tighter, meaning better transmission of vibrations, than with a dove-tail style joint. One should also note that many guitar manufacturers and private luthiers have adopted this method of attaching the neck. The ‘neck block’ that I use is modeled after a design by Charles Fox and is pictured below.
Fretboard: Macassar ebony is the standard choice fingerboard on Joel Guitars. It is also very stable and features subtle yellow to dark brown streaks, which are contrasted to the mostly black wood. Other wood options are available. Standard models feature inlaid MOP dot fingerboard markers and contrasting black or white inlaid position markers on fingerboard binding.
Bridge/Pins: East Indian rosewood and Macassar ebony are two options of many options for the bridge material. Ebony pins with MOP dots are standard but other options are available according to taste.
Nut/Saddle: Bone is considered the best choice for nuts and saddles because of it hardness, stability, low damping properties and ability to transmit vibrations efficiently to the soundboard and is standard on all models.
Headstock: Standard solid headstock and slotted headstock are available on my Parlor and 000 model guitars. All pegheads feature a solid wood overlay (your choice) and under-laid with contrasting black/white veneers, and include the “Joel” logo inlayed with Mother of Pearl or Abalone.
Scale Length: The scale length of a guitar is the distance from the nut to the saddle. The scale length has some bearing on the tone, intonation and feel of the guitar. The standard scale that I use is 25.4” but options are available.
12 Fret/14 Fret Models: Steel string guitars from the early in the century were more or less redesigned classic guitars and the convention was to join the neck to the body at the 12th fret. (Modern classic guitars still hold to this convention). The majority of steel string guitars produced since the 1930’s have a neck that joins the body at the 14th fret and was to allow easier access to the upper frets. The 12 Fret steel string has made a comeback in past decades because of its warm, rounded tone, and due to the many fine finger-style guitarists playing these instruments. There is a definite tonal difference, which is least partly a result the bridge being placed further back on body. I offer the 12-fret option on either my Parlor or 000 body size instruments as well as slothead style peghead. With the optional cutaway, the 12 fret model is a very versatile guitar.
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