Long tenon overrated?

[Guest HRB853370]

As a player who cut his teeth playing a bolt-on Harmony Stratatone from age 13 to late 20's, I can't relate to all of this tenon talk. There was NO tenon on that LP shaped guitar, but it sure sounded good.

 

+100,000!

 

Be careful Tim, I can hear the "purists" cringing already!

[rockabilly69]

I generally seek out the long tenon guitars as I want the most wood on wood contact, especially in Gibson LP's. But sometimes

in the Standards, and the short tenon H150's, you get lucky and there's an extremely tight fitting neck. In those case I don't

think I can hear a difference. But on the short tenons with rocker style joints there isn't that much wood on wood. And I for

one would worry about the stability of that neck joint. I know a few well known luthiers who think that Heritage had more than

a few problems with their neck joints on the early H150's, so that had me running cautious for awhile concerning buying an

H150. But I preferred the solid body on the H150's, over the swiss cheese Gibson standards, so I went for a H150 as a backup

to my historic '60 reissue. But for those who don't think there's a difference, would you really prefer a short neck tenon over

a long neck tenon if they were both the same price??? I would pick the long tenon every time. If I had custom H150 built you

could be damn sure it would have a long tenon!!! Fortunately the H150 that I bought from 602a has a solid neck joint and I

don't forsee having any problems with it.

[Blunote]

Short tenon or not, perhaps I haven't been scouring other discussion boards enough, but I can't remember ever seeing Heritage criticized for the tone of their guitars. Neither have I read any reports of a necks failing.

 

Leaves me to wonder 'what's the issue?'.

 

But then, it's possible that I don't get out enough.

[H]

Short tenon or not, perhaps I haven't been scouring other discussion boards enough, but I can't remember ever seeing Heritage criticized for the tone of their guitars. Neither have I read any reports of a necks failing.

 

Leaves me to wonder 'what's the issue?'.

 

But then, it's possible that I don't get out enough.

 

I'm inclined to your side of this discussion, Blunote. Heritages are built by guys and girls with just as much experience as any luthier alive today. They believe in their product and haven't succumbed to the mass-production business model that would suggest corners being cut to maximise profit.

 

I don't get out much either Still, when I have the chance I prefer to play my guitars rather than fussing over the amount of winds in the pickups, etc!

[bolero]

I know a few well known luthiers who think that Heritage had more than

a few problems with their neck joints on the early H150's, so that had me running cautious for awhile concerning buying an

H150.

 

do you mean that guy on the mylespaul forums who started a thread about it? I've never heard about that anywhere else

[tbonesullivan]

do you mean that guy on the mylespaul forums who started a thread about it? I've never heard about that anywhere else

I have also heard some complaints from certain guitar techs, but never any elaboration or mention of whether it was from personal experience or just reading the crap that is posted on the internet.

[bolero]

I wonder about that...it's not hard to start rumours on the internet?

 

I have a '93 & a '94 H150, no neck joint problems on either of them

[tbonesullivan]

I think it's crap. I've played BOLT ON guitars with tons of sustain. Isn't really any long tenon there to speak off. I believe what we have here is a case of Gibson's BS cork-sniffing advertising catching on elsewhere. I have yet to see the pictures of lots of short-tenon les paul style guitars and others that all had the neck joint let go. All I can find is thousands of pictures of broken headstocks, which isn't even a glue joint.

[kidsmoke]

I have yet to see the pictures of lots of short-tenon les paul style guitars and others that all had the neck joint let go. All I can find is thousands of pictures of broken headstocks, which isn't even a glue joint.

 

this.

 

Common sense that tight, well fitted and glued joint is best. But evidence of failure, let alone inferior performance, doesn't exist. With all of the hours of reading, and guitars played, that is collectively represented here and on other forums, this would not be an issue open to subjective discourse, it would be an established fact with photos and first person testimony.

[tbonesullivan]

Ok, so this morning I pulled the pickups out of my 535 to see if '59s would fit... they won't. But I also noticed that the tenon definitely goes into the neck cavity on a 535.

 

So, did they make the tenon even longer on 535s, or have they always had "long tenons"? I can't find much at all about tenon length in 335 style guitars. As they are double cuts, they already have a much shorter area available for the neck joint, so maybe they never went to a short tenon".