Why is Mahogany set and Maple bolted?

monquixote

If someone told you they'd just been out and bought a maple necked guitar and a mahogany necked guitar you would probably assume that the former was a bolt neck and the latter a set neck.

I know there are exceptions like maple necked Les Pauls etc, but there is any reason for this other than that one is the way Fender do it and the other how Gibson do it?

You do get the odd set neck Telecaster etc, but they don't tend to be ash and maple.

Any reason other than convention?

WezV

maple holds a screw thread a lot better than mahogany

Kalimna

WezV said:

maple holds a screw thread a lot better than mahogany

Quite possibly, but the neck doesnt hold the thread, the body does. I don't know off the top of my head, but I can't imagine basswood or alder is better than mahogany. Ash maybe. But mahogany would be quite sufficient at thread holding anyway.

Adam

Roland

Wood strength is one way of looking at it. Another way is production cost. Leo Fender was going for the cheap and simple approach. At the outset he viewed necks as replaceable items, so they had to be easy to remove. Gibson on the other hand were used to building set neck acoustic guitars and other acoustic instruments where the necks were traditionally glued in.

monquixote

Roland said:

Wood strength is one way of looking at it. Another way is production cost. Leo Fender was going for the cheap and simple approach. At the outset he viewed necks as replaceable items, so they had to be easy to remove. Gibson on the other hand were used to building set neck acoustic guitars and other acoustic instruments where the necks were traditionally glued in.

That's fair enough, but is it just a 70 year convention, or does it make sense in the modern world?

sweepy

My Suhr Guthrie Govan has a bolted on Mahogany neck and my Eggle has a glued in maple one

Philly_Q

I think it's mostly convention. 

But Wez's point is very relevant, Fender decided on the bolt-on construction to cut costs and they probably did find that it worked better with maple than softer woods (just as they found that not having a truss rod was problematic).  Maple, ash and alder may also have been cheaper than imported tropical hardwoods, I'd imagine?

EricTheWeary

Apparently Les Paul requested that the instruments were maple with mahogany for the cap ( I think the cap was an early design decision to show off Gibson’s  building skills) but that would have been too heavy so mahogany with a maple cap it was. 

Bennyboy-UK

All set neck Hamer models which were factory fitted with floyds (probably same with Kahlers) had maple necks instead of mahogany.

That includes, SS1, SS2, first gen Chaparrals, TLEs, FBs, Blitz

Interesting examples of varying construction within the same models include the late 80’s/early 90s Sunbursts. 

These had mahogany necks when built with fixed bridges, but maple necks when a floyd was specified.

The variation was purely for strength because at the time the locking nuts had fixing bolts that went straight through the neck in the 80s and surface mounted from about 1990. 

They stuck with maple necks on the set neck floyded models even when the locking nuts went to surface mounting.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Kalimna said:

WezV said:

maple holds a screw thread a lot better than mahogany

Quite possibly, but the neck doesnt hold the thread, the body does.

Not on a Strat or a Tele (or Jag or Jazzmaster or Precision or Jazz bass etc).  They use wood screws.  The screws pass through the back of the body and the threaded end of the screw is driven into the neck wood (ie normally maple on the Fender guitars listed).

poopot

Kalimna said:

WezV said:

maple holds a screw thread a lot better than mahogany

Quite possibly, but the neck doesnt hold the thread, the body does. 

Not on any strat I’ve come across!

If the screw is threaded inside the Body it’s not pulling the neck tight down in the pocket... open up those screw holes and release the tonez!!!!!

ArchtopDave

Are you just referring to solid bodied electrics??  I wouldn't make your assumption. For a start, plenty of Acoustic Guitars, and Archtops, have glued Maple necks.

Gassage

Kalimna said:

WezV said:

maple holds a screw thread a lot better than mahogany

Quite possibly, but the neck doesnt hold the thread, the body does. I don't know off the top of my head, but I can't imagine basswood or alder is better than mahogany. Ash maybe. But mahogany would be quite sufficient at thread holding anyway.

Adam

Unless, for some bizarre personal challenge of phrasing,  you're bolting your neck on straight through the top of the fingerboard, the neck does hold the thread!

Kittyfrisk

My telecaster (in the sig pic) has a mahogany body with a bolt on maple neck, where my MIJ Tokai Love Rock has a mahogany body with a maple set neck. Love them both, so I say sod convention 

monquixote

ArchtopDave said:

Are you just referring to solid bodied electrics??  I wouldn't make your assumption. For a start, plenty of Acoustic Guitars, and Archtops, have glued Maple necks.

Yeah just electrics.

Acoustics are for hippies.

Kalimna

Regarding 'bolt on' necks, my bad. I feel like an idiot. For some reason my brain had a temporary fail, and of course the screw thread mechanicaly grips the neck, not the body.

Adam

DrBob

But would it be viable to make a bolt on mahogany neck ? 

EricTheWeary

DrBob said:

But would it be viable to make a bolt on mahogany neck ? 

Yes and people do. Fairly sure Warmoth make a mahogany tele neck for a start. 

ThorpyFX

sweepy said:

My Suhr Guthrie Govan has a bolted on Mahogany neck and my Eggle has a glued in maple one

contrary barstool ....... lol

WezV

DrBob said:

But would it be viable to make a bolt on mahogany neck ? 

Yes.... But if that's neck is coming on and off a lot then stripping the threads is going to happen a lot sooner than it does on maple.

I wouldn't do a bolt on mahogany neck without using inserts, or at least plugging with a wood that holds a thread better

RaymondLin

My 305 has a maple neck and it’s a set neck.