Questions for Jack Strayhorn

Tony Smart · From: Harlow. Essex. England

Jack, hope you wouldn't mind answering a couple of Emmons questions here, as you are our Emmons Guru.

1. What is your thinking on the tightness of neck screws when assembling, re. affecting the tone?
Some say it makes a difference, others not.

2. Is there a difference in sound between the single and dual coil pups. I'm assuming using the thin sound on the d/coil?

Thanks in advance.

Tony Smart · From: Harlow. Essex. England

If anybody knows Jack, perhaps they could ask him for his opinion on this as there is a current topic on the British Forum about neck screw tightness and sustain.

Thanks

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Tony,
I'm not Jack and don't have his experience or expertise. But... Bobby Bowman used to work on my Emmons steels. Whenever I got them back from him not only did they work better the tone would just bloom. There was always a massive improvement in sustain and tone. He told me the secret was in how tight the neck screws where.
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Bob

Tony Smart · From: Harlow. Essex. England

Thanks Bob for taking the time to reply, but I would really like to know what the thinking was at the Emmons Factory.

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

and also....would the same be true for wood necks?

Ken Byng · From: Southampton, England

One other viewpoint on the British forum is the 24" scale affecting sustain above the 12th fret compared to a 24.25" scale.
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Jim Smith · From: Midlothian, TX, USA

Does anyone know the magic number of foot pounds the necks should be tightened to? If nothing else, that would help the torque wrench market! Wink

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Snug, not wrenched all to hell.
Glad to help
I think Sheldon Brown called it either Real Tight or Pretty Tight
www.sheldonbrown.com/tork-grip.html
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Jack Strayhorn · From: Winston-Salem, NC

We hand tightened as much as possible. When I do any repair work I check all screws and snug them as much as possible. Never experimented with any other method.
A dual coil is the same as sgl coil with the exception of the tap placed usually mid winding. The issue would be that the dual coil is always passing through the tone control.

Tony Smart · From: Harlow. Essex. England

Thanks very much indeed Jack.
You can't beat a reply from the horses mouth.

Jim Smith · From: Midlothian, TX, USA

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

If possibly the tension of the neck screws is important, wouldn't this tension vary somewhat with temperature? I can see the metal necks having a huge temp swing from hot to cold and their temp coefficient is way different from the of the wood body.

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

The old saying "having a few screws loose" could affect tone. With a few loose screws one's body would not be rigid and therefore would absorb the guitar's vibrations affecting sustain. Question

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

NOW I think I know. Since the first time I played 014 (still waiting for delivery) I thought it sounded a bit different than the previous BenRoms. The only thing I did differently was to screw the neck screws down through instead of up thru the underside of the sound board....And I tightened them as much as possible, just like Jack says. I do think the guitar sounds special. We'll see and hear when Dale Rivard comes and does his test drive!
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Marco Schouten · From: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Last month I tested this with a friend, on his 2 Push Pulls.The tightening of the neck screws makes a significant difference in tone and sustain.
I did test this on my JCH, on that guitar it doesn't make a difference.
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Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

Uh-oh, based on experience, I'm gonna disagree. I know what Jack writes and I have total respect for his expertise. Total. But....

Of the Emmons I have, I had an '81 that used to sit in its case for the longest time. Tone was ok, but "tight" and constricted. Nothing special. One day I read on the forum about neck screws' tightness affecting tone and thought, what the heck, I'd try it on that '81. I simply turned it upside down and loosened the screws a half-turn or so. Took two minutes. They were still snug but definitely not death-grip tight as before. Plugged it in to my regular setup and was amazed at the difference in tone. No way was it little. Made a believer out of me and promoted the guitar to being my main workhorse to this day.

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

i have two wood neck p/p's and i've never tried adjusting the tension partly because i'm lazy and they both sound great the way they are.
but i have a theory.
perhaps it has to do with the rigidity of the top soundboard of the cabinet.
if the neck screws are loosened up a tad, it would allow a bit more vibration of the cabinet.

what do i win?

Bill Terry · From: Bastrop, TX

Ray DeVoe · From: Hudson, FL

Hi Chris, (or someone in the know.)

Chris, your wood neck PP's are more than likely originals so you can probably verify the following.

One of my SD 10 PP's is a modified guitar. It was "born" as a mica guitar with aluminum neck. Somewhere along the line, someone converted it to a wood neck guitar with bolt on changer. This is not a bad thing at all but Mike Cass once saw a picture of the guitar and stated that the only thing that was not done correctly was that the wood neck had been screwed on from the bottom. Most of the original screw / bolt holes were just enlarged to accommodate wood style screws. It sure sounds great regardless of the mounting. My question in all of this is as follows. If I understand right, the necks were screwed on from the top on all original wood neck PP's. If they are from the top, obviously no one will be adjusting the tightness as the screws are covered over.

My SD 10 was a total disaster when I purchased it but its in great shape now. Like you, I will work on my own PP's but wont volunteer for any work on someone else's unless its just minor. You have to respect anyone that works on these things for a living.

Ray D.
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chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

right...i guess they do screw on from the top under the fretboard. i'd forgotten. this one came all apart to refinish and fix up. i guess i snugged em up ok cause it sounds fine.

Ray DeVoe · From: Hudson, FL

You have a real nice looking PP Chris.

Thanks for the info on the neck mounting.

Here is a current picture of my altered guitar. I had just set it to put new strings on as I'm using it this weekend. Mounting the neck from the bottom does not seem to have hurt the sound. I actually have enough parts that I could change it back to an aluminum neck guitar but I don't see the need as it sounds great.

Nothing is as pretty as a lacquer guitar such as yours but this mica guitar cleaned up pretty well.

Thanks

Ray D
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Zum SD 10 Hybrid, Zum D 10 Hybrid, Emmons SD 10 P.P.
SMS: Revelation & Classic Preamps: Furlong 12" Splits.
Webb 15" Splits: Telonics 500 C: Head and 12" cabinet:

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

I may be wrong, as I have had just one wood neck Emmons -- an October 1964 wood neck a Wraparound Bolt-On-- but Emmons wood necks fasten from the bottom. Screws from the top down, under the fretboards, is a Shot Jackson thing, not. Buddy Emmons thing.
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Ray DeVoe · From: Hudson, FL

Thanks Chris L. for weighing in on this. I surely do not know which is the correct way as this is the only wood neck guitar that I have owned.

The one thing I do know is that the guitar sounds very good. It has a deeper mid range and more growl and bite than any of my aluminum neck PP's. Some say that the bolt on changer contributes to this as well.

Jack or someone will need to educate us as to the proper mounting of the wood neck.

The 64 wood neck, wrap around with bolt on changer that you referred to sounds like it was a very "special" guitar, but then all of yours are. Smile

Thanks
Ray D.
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Zum SD 10 Hybrid, Zum D 10 Hybrid, Emmons SD 10 P.P.
SMS: Revelation & Classic Preamps: Furlong 12" Splits.
Webb 15" Splits: Telonics 500 C: Head and 12" cabinet:

Waisznor · From: Berlin, Germany

My experience:
tightening or loosening the neck screws can change the timbre. But you don´t know if a PP sounds better in the one or the other way. It depends on
- your individual steelguitar
- your ears
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Horst Waisznor

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