All access neck joint? Good idea ,but bad for tone!

VOLTAGE · #1 10-31-2002, 10:26 AM

I think this was a good idea that is not a feasible one!

It allows the player to have complete comfort and access,but the design is plain stupid

The neck makes no contact with the bodies wood after the 24th fret

(it has a opening at the neck pickup and the neck wood is only contacting the sides of the body? This dramatically reduces resonance and sustain

I have a new RG and a 86 and the 86 sounds much better with the old neck joint(both are 550's) the newer one is weak and thin compared to my older one even with the same dimarzio's

I wish ibanez kept the old neck joint design,i am going to get another old RG to replace this new one

littlegreenman · #2 10-31-2002, 12:12 PM

I think it's perfectly feasable, and it works, the truth is, you have almost exactly the same amount of contact in both necks, on the old style neck joints, you still have no contact on the last frets as the board hangs over quite a bit. There is more wood on the old style, but take the jems and universes into account, the neck joint is way thinner than the RG's, there is about the same amount of physical wood there. I would say your problem comes more likely from a piece of bass wood used to make the new body being less dense than the neck joint itself. I've had original neck Joint Jems's and UV's, and AANJ Jem's and UV's, and the tonal difference is next to nothing, I also think that the mounting system on the AANJ allows a better transfer of vibration due to the bolt style, inset into the wood, however, having said that, I personally prefer the feel of the original neck joint, particularily on the UV's.

Jeremy

sniperfrommars1 · #3 10-31-2002, 01:16 PM

86 RG??? There are no 86 rgs are they?? they were put out in 87 with the jems right??? that would just be a regular roadstar correct? Rich?? Darren??

mike777 · #4 10-31-2002, 01:52 PM

Your tonal difference could also be (and probably most likely) a result of the differences between two different cuts of wood. To validate what you are saying, we would need two guitars built and set up EXACTLY the same way and built from wood from the same section of the same tree. That's a highly controlled experiment and I've never heard anyone do that yet. that would be really interesting, too.

I definitely don't feel that AANJ guitars have an inferior tonal quality, though.

Mike 777 Haug

Gabe Nickelson · #5 10-31-2002, 03:00 PM

Come on! We're talking about a BOLT ON neck! You are talking about very minor things. If you want sustain and are all worried about that have a custom neck-through body Jem made.

If find NO difference from a standard bolt-on vs. AANJ bolt on. In fact, if there is any difference, I would probably have to be detected by expensive machinery.

I agree with Mike. It's probably the specific cut of wood that would make more difference. Plus the removal of wood from the Monkey grip could cause some (probably unnoticeable) tonal changes.

Gabe

littlegreenman · #6 10-31-2002, 03:30 PM

geez, everyone agree with mike about the wood, I said it first LOL!!!!!!!

Gabe Nickelson · #7 10-31-2002, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littlegreenman

geez, everyone agree with mike about the wood, I said it first LOL!!!!!!!

Yeah, I noticed that after I posted. Sorry! All the credit goes to you Jeremy...

sniperfrommars1 · #8 10-31-2002, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littlegreenman

geez, everyone agree with mike about the wood, I said it first LOL!!!!!!!

LOL. Agrees with jeremy* Anyway It would be great if ibanez were using this weird tree farm method where they select a really nice looking sapling. The sapling is given its own name and is nurtured and the guitars that get made from it are given a particular name (branded on the headstock or something crazy). It would be interesting to say the least to see a really nurtured peice of wood go through that. lol. REALLY weird thought I know guys but still interesting

littlegreenman · #9 10-31-2002, 09:20 PM

LOL

VOLTAGE · #10 11-01-2002, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperfrommars1

86 RG??? There are no 86 rgs are they?? they were put out in 87 with the jems right??? that would just be a regular roadstar correct? Rich?? Darren??

I was told that it was a 1986? maybe it is not? but it is a RG and is just like these newer ones except the neck pocket.
Maybe it is just a sweet one

but it sounds superior to my AANJ RG? they both have a tone zone/air norton pickups? has ibanez changed the basswood to a cheaper cut? you tell me?

darren wilson · #11 11-01-2002, 10:57 AM

I honestly don't think minor differences in bolt-on neck construction are going to make that much difference in a guitar's tone. If it's bolted on solidly, most of the contact is coming through the back of the neck anyway.

As the guys have already said, wood varies a lot, and the only time you'll get two bodies that sound pretty much identical is if they come from the same plank of wood. Growing conditions, age of the tree, what part of the tree the wood came from, how the wood was dried, etc. will all have an effect on how that piece of wood sounds.

You get some that just resonate beautifully, and others that don't. Sometimes you just find a really exceptional piece of wood that was destined to be a musical instrument.

For example, i played an EBMM Petrucci model a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't believe how incredibly resonant it sounded. It had a very distinct vowel-like frequency resonance that kinda sounded like a wah pedal about halfway open. Unplugged. I didn't even need to plug it in to know it was an exceptional-sounding guitar. I played three other basswood-bodied Ibanezes back to back with it, including a neck-thru RGT42, and none of them had that incredible ring.

In fact, when i try out guitars in music stores, i rarely plug them in at all any more. If it's good wood, you'll know it right away. Plugging it in will just tell you how the electronics sound, and pickups can always be changed later. I'd rather know i'm getting a good slab of wood.

sniperfrommars1 · #12 11-01-2002, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darren wilson

I honestly don't think minor differences in bolt-on neck construction are going to make that much difference in a guitar's tone. If it's bolted on solidly, most of the contact is coming through the back of the neck anyway.

As the guys have already said, wood varies a lot, and the only time you'll get two bodies that sound pretty much identical is if they come from the same plank of wood. Growing conditions, age of the tree, what part of the tree the wood came from, how the wood was dried, etc. will all have an effect on how that piece of wood sounds.

You get some that just resonate beautifully, and others that don't. Sometimes you just find a really exceptional piece of wood that was destined to be a musical instrument.

For example, i played an EBMM Petrucci model a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't believe how incredibly resonant it sounded. It had a very distinct vowel-like frequency resonance that kinda sounded like a wah pedal about halfway open. Unplugged. I didn't even need to plug it in to know it was an exceptional-sounding guitar. I played three other basswood-bodied Ibanezes back to back with it, including a neck-thru RGT42, and none of them had that incredible ring.

In fact, when i try out guitars in music stores, i rarely plug them in at all any more. If it's good wood, you'll know it right away. Plugging it in will just tell you how the electronics sound, and pickups can always be changed later. I'd rather know i'm getting a good slab of wood.

Thats the same thing I do darren

. It also gives me an idea of the nuances of the fretboard, cause I can hear all the extrainious noises that the pickups wouldnt clearly pickup.

Zeek · #13 11-01-2002, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darren wilson

In fact, when i try out guitars in music stores, i rarely plug them in at all any more. If it's good wood, you'll know it right away. Plugging it in will just tell you how the electronics sound, and pickups can always be changed later. I'd rather know i'm getting a good slab of wood.

This brings up an issue I've oft wondered about. How can a magnetic pickup be affected at all anyway by vibrating wood? A pickup is picking up the movement of steel strings in a magnetic field, right? Whether the wood body resonates or not seems like it would have nothing to do with the tone. Know what i mean? The pickup cannot detect vibrations of wood... or can it?

littlegreenman · #14 11-01-2002, 09:31 PM

It's the density and field of the wood that causes the string to continue resonating the way it does, also, a magnetic pickup, is still a microphone in a sense, it picks up vibration, that's why, when you tap a plastic pick against a pickup, it comes through, the magnet isn't what reads the sound.

dcord · #15 11-01-2002, 10:56 PM

Pickups work by creating a magnetic field which is disrupted by the vibrations of the strings. Harmonic waves are included in this vibration.

The density of the wood affects the waves of the strings' vibration and their harmonics.

Therefore, the density of the wood has a profound effect on the sound of an electric guitar. However, pickups can be wound to be more sensitive different wavelengths.

~d~