Neck Construction

Updated
RKaynan

What is ESP's opinion on a 3pc vs 1pc neck?  

One stronger/sound better than the other?

Neil F.

i have the same question. I have googled the topic but can't find a definitive answer. 

Would be keen to hear ESPs opinion 

RKaynan

I took the plunge and bought a brand new one with a 3pc neck; the Eclipse E-II BB.  I just made sense to me that having different wood strips up against each other would make a stronger neck.   Could be wrong but that's my intuition.  

Road King

It sounds weird, but they cut the maple into 3 pieces to make the neck stronger. Usually they'll reverse one of the pieces of maple so that the grain faces the other way. I guess this helps combat warping.

ESP 348

Interesting, I always wondered why they did that. Cheers RK for the explanation.

ESP Admin

What is ESP's opinion on a 3pc vs 1pc neck?  

One stronger/sound better than the other?

 

Each has its purpose for certain applications, but in general guitar building is very subjective past the point of functionality so you will find many varying answers.

 

Vincent  C.

 Hello I'm new to this forum and I would love to please have some advice on the neck. 

 Here is my story....

Hi, I have a 10 year old Eclipse..... It's a beautiful guitar...white with a black ebony fretboard

It looks great and sounds great ....

However .... I don't play it anymore. It has been in the case for years.

It was one of my first guitars, before I knew anything at all about different sizes and specs.

I was not given proper guidance with regard to getting fitted for a guitar. I have extremely small hands and short fingers and trying to play past the 15th fret..... especially from 17 and up is a nightmare!

At present I've been playing guitars with better up a fret access like Jackson Soloist and Schecter Platinum.

I noticed the new ESP guitars have a much better design and much better up a fret access now that they're not following the old Les Paul design with regard to the big bulky next joint.

Anyway I don't want to sell the guitar, because as I said it looks and sounds great.... But because of its difficulties in the upper range I'm thinking of modifying the next joint by sanding the big bulky so called "Brick" or "Block" to create a much easier upper fret access for my small hand and short fingers.

As I mentioned I don't want to sell the guitar and I do really want to play it but I want to enjoy it and be comfortable on it

I figured a small and held power sander should do the trick.... Has anyone done this before?

Or have you heard of anyone doing this?

Thank you for your input

ESP 348

I am sure a professional guitar Luthier can do this job for you mate and make it look perfect.

I have never done it myself, but I am sure others would have done it many times in the past.

But if you love the guitar this much and want it to look like a factory finish so to speak with the paint repaired etc afterwards, please take it to an expert that can do this for you.

RKaynan

Vincent, please do me a favor and explain what this means:

"Brick" or "Block" to create a much easier upper fret access"

 

Vincent  C.

 Thank you guys for the quick response

I really appreciate it!

 As far as the factory finish it's actually underneath the guitar it's only going to be a little area and it's not going to be visible when I'm playing so I really don't care too much about how it looks.

 I really needed to feel good in my hands

Besides I can always take a little bit of white paint in touch up right over where I sanded.

 I'm pretty sure I could do it myself doesn't seem like rocket science just take a little bit off at a time and that should be fine  

 I don't think it'll be enough where it will affect the structural integrity of the neck and the guitar.

 It's  even worse than I thought because I just took it out  to check out where I was going to send and noticed that even when I'm at the 12th fret the heel of my hand starts hitting the neck joint.

 As far as the Brick and the Block.... Those are terms that I've heard other guitarists use in describing what it feels like you are grabbing at the base of the neck joint  playing the upper frets

I thought that was a good description  of what it felt like. 

Vincent  C.

 I forgot to mention I got a price from a professional Lucier to do the job and he said he wanted to charge me $1000 and it would take 6 to 8 weeks 

 I figured I could do it myself in about a half hour  which is the cost of the sander 

Pushead

What Vincent is hoping to do is to take a neck joint that looks like this:



And turn it into something like this:

 

I'd be concerned about the amount of glued surface you might lose, which might affect the neck stability.  In my opinion, you should sell the guitar and buy one that better fits your needs.  You've already gotten advice from a professional that this transformation is a time consuming operation (though most of it, I'm sure, is for the refinish of the back of the neck.)

But a half-hour with a hand sander might get you what you want.  But it will severly impact the value of the guitar should you ever decide to sell it.

Vincent  C.

Thank you Pushhead!

you are spot on!

Those photos are perfect and you are absolutely right with what I am trying to achieve.

i'm really not at this point concerned with having to sell the guitar. looks like nobody's been buying on eBay for a while there's a lot of clips ESP up there for sale with no bids.

Yes.... I'm sure price quote reflects the time needed for the refinishing

I really hate to sell it because I'm a sucker for a gorgeous Ebony fretboard..... And this one has one of the best I've ever seen! It's a rich shiny black with the mother of pearl inlays.

I also really don't want to take a loss on it by selling.

I have other guitars that i've been playing but this is my only 24.75 scale with 22 Frets

 

Vincent  C.

I also forgot to mention I'm going to use a very small handheld Dremel with a small Sanding tip.

this will allow me to really sand with precision.

Pushead

Ok, good luck!

Vincent  C.

Thanks Pushhead.  

.... I'll take it slow a little bit at a time.

The second photo you put up ..... Illustrating what I was looking to accomplish in the end result....  is that also a set neck like the first photo?

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