Set-in neck is a method of guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 (or similar stringed instrument) construction that involves joining guitar neck and body with a tightly fitted mortise-and-tenon

Mortise and tenon

The mortise and tenon joint has been used for thousands of years by woodworkers around the world to join pieces of wood, mainly when the adjoining pieces connect at an angle of 90°. In its basic form it is both simple and strong. Although there are many joint variations, the basic mortise and tenon...

 or dovetail

Dovetail

Dovetail may refer to:* The dovetail joint used in woodworking* The dovetail or "riffle" method of shuffling playing cards* German equatorial mount, or dovetail plate, used to fix a telescope to its mount...

 joint, secured using some sort of adhesive

Adhesive

An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...

. It is a common belief that this yields a stronger body-to-neck connection than a bolt-on neck

Bolt-on neck

Bolt-on neck is a method of guitar construction that involves joining a guitar neck and body using screws as opposed to glue as with set-in neck joints. The term is a misnomer, introduced mostly by Fender whose guitars traditionally had "bolt-on necks". Real bolted joints are uncommon in guitar...

, although most luthiers agree that a well-executed bolt-on neck joint is equally strong, and will have similar levels of sustain and neck-to-body contact. However, neither of these joints is as strong as a neck-through body construction, which requires more material and is usually seen only on high-end solid body guitars.

This set-in neck is most popular on acoustic guitars. Almost all major acoustic guitar manufacturers use set-in necks, with notable exceptions being Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars is an El Cajon, California‐based luthier, specializing in acoustic guitars, as well as semi-hollow and solidbody electric guitars. It was established in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug.- History :...

 and Collings Guitars

Collings Guitars

Collings Guitars is an Austin, Texas based stringed instrument manufacturer. Founded by Bill Collings in 1973, Collings today produces acoustic guitars, electric guitars, archtop guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles.- History :...

. In the electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 market, Gibson

Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...

 traditionally produces almost all of its electric offerings as set-in neck models, as opposed to rival Fender, which traditionally builds its electric instruments (most notably, the Stratocaster, Telecaster and various Electric Basses

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

) with bolt-on necks.

Glues used

Wooden musical instrument construction relies on four widely used types of glues:

• Hide glue
• PVA
  Polyvinyl acetate
  Polyvinyl acetate, PVA, PVAc, poly, is a rubbery synthetic polymer with the formula n. It belongs to the polyvinyl esters family with the general formula -[RCOOCHCH2]-...
  
   (both "white glue" and "yellow glue")
• Epoxy
  Epoxy
  Epoxy, also known as polyepoxide, is a thermosetting polymer formed from reaction of an epoxide "resin" with polyamine "hardener". Epoxy has a wide range of applications, including fiber-reinforced plastic materials and general purpose adhesives....
  
   and Cyanoacrylate
  Cyanoacrylate
  Cyanoacrylate is the generic name for cyanoacrylate based fast-acting adhesives such as methyl 2-cyanoacrylate, ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate , and n-butyl cyanoacrylate...
  
   are sometimes also used for neck joints, but generally such use is rare. Structure of these glues makes it difficult to disassemble joint later if repair or servicing is required.

Advantages

Typically cited advantages of set-in neck include:

• Warmer tone
• Usually better access to top frets in comparison to bolt-on necks utilizing a metal plate (as seen on Fender guitars)

Disadvantages

• Harder and more expensive to mass manufacture than bolt-on necks, much harder to repair / service than a bolt-on neck
• Although commonly believed to have more sustain, this appears to have been the subject of only one formal but not peer-reviewed study This study found the common wisdom to mistaken, with somewhat greater sustain depending more on the quality of the joint.
• The player has no control over the neck-to-body angle; changing it requires disassembling the instrument and re-glueing the neck by an experienced luthier
  Luthier
  A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...