Set-through neck

Set-through neck (or Set-thru neck) is a method of joining the neck and the body of guitar (or similar stringed instrument), effectively combining bolt-on, set-in and neck-through methods. It involves:

The result is usually told to have combined advantages of all these methods, mostly eliminating their disadvantages. Luthiers frequently cite:

The main disadvantage is relatively complex construction that leads to higher manufacturing and servicing costs. Another cited disadvantage is the inability or relative complexity of adding a double-locking tremolo to the guitar, as the routing for cavities would interfere with deeply set neck.

Set-through necks are relatively uncommon, and few manufacturers produce such neck joints. Sometimes, especially if neck extension inside a body does not fill full scale length, such neck joint is marketed as an extended pocket set-in neck or deep-set neck.

David Thomas McNaught claims to be the first who proposed a modern version of set-through neck joint. "Set-Thru" is a registered trademark of McNaught Guitars in United States since February 25, 2003.

Despite the trademark, some other companies use the term to describe their products. ESP Guitars offers several models with set-through necks:

Ed Roman Guitars offers the following guitars with "deep-set tenon neck joint", which is a version of set-through neck:

Samick JTR (John Thomas Riboloff):

B.C. Rich guitars offer so-called "Invisibolt Technology" since 2006[1], which is effectively also a version of deep-set neck, bolted underneath the pickups. As of 2007^[update], B.C. Rich offers 3 models in SE series with Invisibolt Technology:

Toone Guitars has offered multiple "neck-into-body" options since 1993, including an asymmetrical sliding dovetail joint:

As opposed to popular neck-through designs that emphasize the neck as one piece of wood and the body wings as (laminated) separate pieces by using transparent or semi-transparent finishes and contrasting woods, there's no such trend for set-through guitars. Usually, it's hard to determine if the guitar has set-through neck or neck-through body judging only the general outlook. B.C. Rich's Invisibolt Technology is one notable exception that uses black ("shadow") body and contrasting light neck wood. A second example would be Toone Guitars' deliberate emphasis of the neck joint as an aesthetic choice, in particular the exposed asymmetrical sliding dovetail joint.

...
Wikipedia