effect of neck length on tone

[pmatolcsy]

OK , here goes dumb question #1

I've read quite a bit about the tonal difference between a 14 fret and a 12 fret to body neck. Is the majority of the tone difference coming from the neck length or the bridge placement on the soundboard ?

I'm thinking of building a double cutaway guitar( about dreadnaught size) with a double cutaway with 19 frets to the bottom of the cutaway . The bridge will be in the "normal" "ie 14 fret neck to body join" position for a dreadnaught. Its for a friend who doesn't enjoy acoustics because of the lack of upper fret access.

I use a bolt-on mortise and tenon neck with a tenon width of 7\8" and a length of 1.125" . The neck block will be about 2" wide by 2" deep with a large foot onto the back (2 x 3.5)

I am interested to get others opinion regarding the need for buttresses to the sides from the neck block?

thanks
phil

[jeffhigh]

It's the bridge position on the body that make the difference.3 out f my last 4 have been 13 fretters.
I am unconvinced when it comes to buttresses.
To my way of thinking , you have a force at soundboard level where the neck joins on, and its opposing force at the bridge.
The most direct pathway is through the soundboard, you just need to give it enough support that it does not buckle or get pushed into the soundhole.
So a decent UTB, infill between neck block and UTB, and adequate soundhole bracing does the job

[Crafty Fox]

Sorry, can't help you but thought I'd just say that I hope you do a thread of this build. I'd love to see how you go about it.