S500 3 bolt versus 4 bolt neck pattern.

Tue Nov 02, 2010 7:41 pm

Can someone educate me about the 3 bolt neck pattern? I assume there is a four bolt pattern. is there a preference? Does this affect the quality and value?
Thanks,
Jeff

Re: S500 3 bolt versus 4 bolt neck pattern.

Tue Nov 02, 2010 8:03 pm

jmiddleton7 wrote:Can someone educate me about the 3 bolt neck pattern? I assume there is a four bolt pattern. is there a preference? Does this affect the quality and value?
Thanks,
Jeff


See When and why did G&L switch to a four-bolt neck?

I will let others address the value aspect of the change. I personally like the necks from 2007 and on, as they are Plek'd and have the non-compression truss rod.

Hope this helps.

Re: S500 3 bolt versus 4 bolt neck pattern.

Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:44 am

Oh boy, I knew I was going to have to get some education along with my G&L, but now I'm really confused about when mine was made and what sort of design implements were part of the construction.

I've got an S-500 with a 3-bolt neck. The neck plate itself is the black "bed liner" finish (if that matters) and the serial number G042526 places it somewhere around 1995 - from looking at other serial numbers and feedback from other members. The guy who sold it to me thought it was a 1998, but that could just have been when he bought it.

So, if I have things correct, the neck should be the "tilt-neck" design and have the non-pleked fret job. A renowned luthier is about to perform the second stage of the fret job and neck set-up he started about a month ago. So he should be able to resolve the one more serious and three or four less serious single note short sustain problems I am encountering (12th fret, G string sound dies much, and noticeably quicker than any other single notes on the fretboard).

Since you say that the 3-bolt design was quite functional, I have no worries there.

Phillip