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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Was looking at some stuff over on frets.com, and found "the new Taylor neck joint" - which is VERY much like the LX neck joint - perhaps better, save the CF reinforncement. The piece was dated 1999, so it seems like Taylor has been doing this for a while.
Either way - its nice to see something with some track record being incorperated into Ovations models, and improved upon at that. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Taylor didn't invent the bolt-on neck, they just gave some credibility to it's use on high-end, expensive guitars. Lots of guitar makers have been using similar neck-joints for decades, simply because it makes assembly & repair, and especially neck re-sets, much easier. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | My 1537 Elite (1983) has a bolt on neck. Different system, but definitly a bolt on. |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Paul, its not the bolt on that caught my eye, but the neck extension and floating mortise in the top, together with the bolted down extension (sort of a fixed place floating extension really).
I'm also thinking that Ovation will, down the road, offer some sort of shimming arrangement that Taylor uses - ie, the manufacturing tolorance is great, but offer shims later for service. Seem like you'd be able to vary the neck and extension angles VERY precisely that way, and still have a good looking joint thats strong. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Charlie, I got a video tape in the mail a few years ago from Taylor guitars. It shows how this new neck attachment is done. I thought it was such a good idea I really considered getting a Taylor. When I saw the Made in America show on TV, I could see alot of these ideas being put into Ovations. I think it is a great neck mounting system, that should help with some common neck problems over time. |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Luthierie has a strong tradition of sharing ideas among artisans. On the manufacturing level... its sorta weird tho, aince everyone wants to CyA with patents and stuff. Maybe it was an unpatentable old idea that resurfaced as "do-able" with modern technology.
Frank Ford, in his piece, says they hold pretty tight tolorances on the extension - to the point that a slightly thick finish would need to be accounted for. Said something about +/-.002, nearly unheard of in wooden product production.
I wonder if Ovation is gonna transform the entire line to that joint? |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7210
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I find it very interesting how technology turns back on itself to improve. My studio and recording techniques are based in the idea that the early days of recording forced some innovative ideas to compensate for the equipment available. In the 80's as technology met up with the recording industry, a lot of the early techniques were abandoned. Now, those technigues are coming back, because the methods themselves were a good way to record, but now we have unbelievable equipment to really capture the performances. A simple example is bands originally recorded all together and recorded as it was played. The 80's and 90's moved toward recording scratch tracks, and each musician came in separately to "dub" their final part onto the recording. Now, many studios like myself are back to recording the whole group playing together which is really the only way to "capture the groove or vibe" of the group, and later just overdubbing leads or special parts for production purposes.
Back on thread, the new neck mounting requires extreme tolerances to be really useful. The measurement techniques and production techniques of 20 years ago I'm not sure could meet those tolerances or at least not affordably enough to make it useful. I think many of the improvements and techniques seen today accross the board (music industry and elsewhere) are a simple case of "hey, remember that idea we had 15 years ago... we can do it now!!!" |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | watching that trailer video is like watching paint dry.....
bolt on necks have been around forever. Trailer took that from Ovation since they had the only really successful bolt on acoustic neck system.
if ovation ever goes to fingerjointed headstocks I will give up. |
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LX neck joint copies Taylor
