Set-in neck

Set-in neck is a method of guitar (or similar stringed instrument) construction that involves joining guitar neck and body with a tightly fitted mortise-and-tenon or dovetail joint, secured using some sort of adhesive. It is a common belief that this yields a stronger body-to-neck connection than a bolt-on neck, although most luthiers agree that a well-executed bolt-on neck joint is equally strong, and will have similar levels of sustain and neck-to-body contact. However, neither of these joints is as strong as a neck-through body construction, which requires more material and is usually seen only on high-end solid body guitars.

This set-in neck is most popular on acoustic guitars. Almost all major acoustic guitar manufacturers use set-in necks, with notable exceptions being Taylor Guitars and Collings Guitars. In the electric guitar market, Gibson traditionally produces almost all of its electric offerings as set-in neck models, as opposed to rival Fender, which traditionally builds its electric instruments (most notably, the Stratocaster, Telecaster and various Electric Basses) with bolt-on necks.

Glues used

Wooden musical instrument construction relies on four widely used types of glues:

• Hide glue
• PVA (both "white glue" and "yellow glue")
• Epoxy and Cyanoacrylate are sometimes also used for neck joints, but generally such use is rare. Structure of these glues makes it difficult to disassemble joint later if repair or servicing is required.

Advantages

Typically cited advantages of set-in neck include:

• Warmer tone
• Usually better access to top frets in comparison to bolt-on necks utilizing a metal plate (as seen on Fender guitars)

Disadvantages

• Harder and more expensive to mass manufacture than bolt-on necks, much harder to repair / service than a bolt-on neck
• Although commonly believed to have more sustain, this appears to have been the subject of only one formal but not peer-reviewed study This study found the common wisdom to mistaken, with somewhat greater sustain depending more on the quality of the joint.
• The player has no control over the neck-to-body angle; changing it requires disassembling the instrument and re-glueing the neck by an experienced luthier

References

• Glue comparison chart on frets.com