Bolt-on vs Cut-tail

Bobbe Seymour · Post by **Bobbe Seymour** » 19 Oct 2006 3:03 pm

A lot, but not enough!

Bobbe

Buck Reid · Post by **Buck Reid** » 19 Oct 2006 11:21 pm

Bobbe - thanks for the vote of confidence! While Buck REED might have been "slightly correct" , Buck REID was and is absolutely correct! The bolt on design from the factory was flawed and only after modification could you "make it stay in tune perfectly" - which is another argument in itself.

I could modify my lawn mower to retrieve the mail, come on - let's be real. There's a reason they changed the design!

John Davis · Post by **John Davis** » 19 Oct 2006 11:33 pm

Only gigged my 68 bolt on "Frank" about seven different venues since I bought it back from US end of September.....no tuning problems whatever and it sings like a bird I love that Emmons

Garry Vanderlinde · Post by **Garry Vanderlinde** » 20 Oct 2006 6:31 am

Jerry
I got the springs/temp concept from John Lacey’s website
. http://www.melmusic.com/laceyj/guide_notes.html

In the section titled; Some Additional Notes on Spacers and Shock Springs he says....

"On the E9 neck the string gauges are much thinner than on the C6 neck. So the pedals will have to travel farther to reach the raise or lower note position. On the strings with the farthest distance to pull (typically the C pedal raise of the 4th string to F# and the B pedal 3rd string to A) no springs or just the slightest bit of spring are used. Some players prefer to have a slight bit of spring on these pulls for two reasons.
The spring will relieve the stress on the hook and pull finger and it will compensate for temperature changes. With the no spring setup, on cold days, the rod shortens and adds the stress mentioned, and on hotter days, the rod lengthens, which can cause the finger to pull slightly short of the stop. The slight compression compensates both problems. We are only talking a millimeter or so of travel beyond the stop, which some players feel is worth the benefits"

What I need is some type of spring that could be attached without having to disassemble the undercarriage.

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 20 Oct 2006 10:05 am

With a cast neck Bolt-on you cannot remove the neck without loosening or removing the changer, which is a pain when the underneath mechanics are all under tension and adjusted nicely. With a Cut Tail, or a Wraparound, you may remove the neck and leave the changer in place.

P Gleespen · Post by **P Gleespen** » 20 Oct 2006 10:17 am

Sorry for the ignorance, but which model is "the holy grail" emmons, is it the bolt-on or the cut-tail...or something else, maybe?

I guess maybe another way of putting it is: what kind is "The Blade"?

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 21 Oct 2006 12:41 pm

P,
I'm not the most qualified to answer this, but since nobody else did;
Although the bolt-ons are coveted for their tone, and may indeed be the "holy grail" you refer to, I understand Buddy's "Blade" is a '68 cuttail.
-John

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 21 Oct 2006 1:06 pm

chris....just out of curiosity, why would you want to take the neck off anyway unless you were disassembling the whole thing to refinish or sumpin, at which point you would also, i assume, take the changer off??