Set-thru neck

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Set-thru neck is a method of joining the neck and the body of guitar (or similar stringed instrument), effectively combining bolt-on, set-in and neck-thru methods. It involves:

A pocket in the instrument's body for insertion of neck, as in bolt-on method. However, the pocket is much deeper than usual one.
Long neck plank, comparable to the scale length, as in neck-thru method.
Glueing (setting) the long neck inside the deep pocket, as in set-in method.

The result is usually told to have combined advantages of all these methods, mostly eliminating their disadvantages. Luthiers frequently cite:

improved tone and sustain (due to deep insertion and body made of single piece of wood, not laminated as in neck-thru),
"warmer" tone (due to set joint)
comfortable access to top frets (due to lack of hard heel and bolt plate),
better wood stability.

The main disadvantage is relatively complex construction that leads to higher manufacturing and servicing costs. Another cited disadvantage is the inability or relative complexity of adding a double-locking tremolo to the guitar, as the routing for cavities would interfere with deeply set neck.

[edit] Manufacturers

Set-thru necks are relatively uncommon, and few manufacturers produce such neck joints. Sometimes, especially if neck extension inside a body does not fill full scale length, such neck joint is marketed as a extended pocket set-in neck or deep-set neck.

David Thomas McNaught claims to be the first who proposed a modern version of set-thru neck joint. "Set-Thru" is a registered trademark of McNaught Guitars in United States since February 25, 2003.^[1]

Despite the trademark, some other companies use the term to describe their products. ESP Guitars offers several models with set-thru necks:

ESP MH-1000 DELUXE
ESP Alexi Laiho STD
LTD DJ-600 (Dan Jacobs signature model)
LTD F-500
LTD AX-400
LTD M-400
LTD H-400
LTD MH-400
LTD MH-400NT

Ed Roman Guitars offers following guitars with "deep-set tenon neck join", which is a version of set-thru neck:

B.C. Rich guitars offer so-called "Invisabolt Technology" since 2006[1], which is effectively also a version of deep-set neck, bolted underneath the pickups. As of 2007, B.C. Rich offers 3 models in SE series with Invisabolt Technology:

B.C. Rich I.T. Beast
B.C. Rich I.T. Jr. V
B.C. Rich I.T. Warlock

As opposed to popular neck-thru design that emphasises that neck is one piece of wood and the body wing are laminated other wood by using transparent or semi-transparent finishes and contrasting woods, there's no such trend for set-thru guitars. Usually, it's hard to determine if the guitar has set-thru neck or neck-thru body judging only the general outlook. B.C. Rich's Invisabolt Technology is notable exception that uses black ("shadow") body and contrasting light neck wood.