There are three ways to join the neck of an electric guitar to its body. Each has a typical sound, feel and price, and each is tied to a family of guitars: Fender made the bolt-on famous, Gibson the set neck, and metal and high-end brands the neck-through.
We read the descriptions of every electric guitar Thomann had in stock on October 31, 2026, and found the joint for 3,334 of them.
| Joint | Guitars | Median price | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt-on | 2,141 | $759 | $368 to $1,898 |
| Set neck | 957 | $1,083 | $490 to $2,345 |
| Neck-through | 236 | $2,122 | $1,328 to $4,468 |
Bolt-on: screwed to the body
The neck sits in a pocket and is held by four screws or bolts. It is the cheapest joint to make, which is why most budget guitars use it, but it isn't a budget-only design: Fender's American models are bolt-on too.
Fender Player II Stratocaster, no longer sold
An alder body with a bolt-on maple neck, the Strat formula since the 1950s. .
Good to know: a bolt-on neck can be taken off, adjusted, shimmed or replaced, which makes repairs and upgrades cheaper. Players often describe the sound as snappier, with a quicker attack.
Set neck: glued into the body
The neck is glued into a pocket and becomes one piece with the body. The heel can be shaped smaller than a bolt-on heel, so upper frets are often easier to reach, and many players hear a little more sustain and warmth.
Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s, $647
A mahogany body with a maple top and a set mahogany neck, the Les Paul recipe. #10 of 253 single cut guitars.
Good to know: a broken set neck, most often a cracked headstock, is a job for a luthier. It can be repaired, but not swapped like a bolt-on.
Neck-through: one piece, end to end
The neck wood runs the full length of the guitar, and the body "wings" are glued to its sides. There is no joint at all under the strings, so the heel can disappear completely: the best upper-fret access of the three, and the reason it is popular with shred and metal players.
Jackson X Series Soloist SLXDX, $728
A neck-through maple neck on a poplar body for $725, an affordable way into the design. #35 of 622 ST style guitars.
ESP has the most neck-through models at Thomann (84), followed by Jackson (41) and Music Man (28). At the top end, most of the ESP USA guitars that arrived in late October are neck-through.
Good to know: a neck-through is the hardest to repair; damage to the neck is damage to the whole guitar.
Does the joint change the sound?
Less than the pickups, the strings and your amp, and blind tests rarely agree. What the joint changes for sure is comfort high up the neck, how a repair goes, and the price. Choose the guitar you like playing; the joint usually comes with it.
Quick guide
- Easy repairs, modding, classic Fender feel: bolt-on.
- Les Paul or SG sound and feel: set neck.
- Fast playing at the top of the neck: neck-through, or a set neck with a sculpted heel.
- On a budget: bolt-on; a cheap set neck or neck-through saves on wood and hardware instead.
Where the numbers come from. Every electric guitar Thomann had in stock on October 31, 2026, without guitar sets. We classified the neck joint from Thomann's product descriptions; for 1,246 guitars the description didn't say, and they are left out. Prices are Thomann's US-dollar prices.
Share this story
Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
All stories by Denis Kataev →
