Why not bolt on?

[6stringsucka]

Another one of my questions that may sound stupid, but really want to know.

I've always been a strat player. One thing I love about my strats is that I can change the neck if I have to (and I did have to due to a nasty fall off a gutiar stand). I once read an interview with PRS and he said the PRSi bolt on neck guitar are fastened in the same fashen as the set necks only with bolts instead of glue from a structure stablity point of view.

If that's the case, lets asume you could get a PRS (or other high end guitar) with identical neck wood (didn't have to be maple when bolt on) but you were given the choice of bolt or set. Which would you choose? I know all highend guitars that are not "super strats" (ie Anderson) do not use bolt on. why?:confused:

[wsaraceni]

Another one of my questions that may sound stupid, but really want to know.

I've always been a strat player. One thing I love about my strats is that I can change the neck if I have to (and I did have to due to a nasty fall off a gutiar stand). I once read an interview with PRS and he said the PRSi bolt on neck guitar are fastened in the same fashen as the set necks only with bolts instead of glue from a structure stablity point of view.

If that's the case, lets asume you could get a PRS (or other high end guitar) with identical neck wood (didn't have to be maple when bolt on) but you were given the choice of bolt or set. Which would you choose? I know all highend guitars that are not "super strats" (ie Anderson) do not use bolt on. why?:confused:
i'd choose whatever sounded better after playing both. to me, i cant imagine my santana sounding better if the neck was bolted on so id probably pick set neck.

[Brian Scherzer]

Some people feel that a bolt-on neck sounds clearer, while a set neck has more sustain. I'm not sure that either is true much of the time.

[aleclee]

IMHO, there's not a big difference between bolt and set necks in a high-quality guitar provided there's no whoppin' neck flange. That said, most bolt-on guitars in the world (in terms of numbers) are junk. I think it's because it allows for a greater degree of slop in terms of manufacturing tolerances. It's unfortunate that so many crappy guitars use bolt on construction 'cause it makes a lot of folks think that all bolt neck guitars are lousy.

As a more direct answer to the question "Why not", aside from the perception of greater quality, I believe that there are physical issues with bolting on a mahogany neck. As I understand it, the wood is too soft to be directly screwed into like maple so you'd have to put studs in the wood, actually making your production costs greater than those of a set-neck guitar and possibly altering the tone.

[Big Mike]

What Alec said.

Remember with an expensive guitar, PERCIEVED VALUE is the major part of what drives the market, and as any joe shmoe can assemble a bolt on given the proper parts, it lends value to the set neck.