...on a $2,500 (used price) guitar. Hmm, not sure I trust that.

Attached File

I'm not even a fan of the 3 bolt necks.  2 bolts make me very nervous.

Builder Link

https://www.andersonguitarworks.com/the-t/

I'd pass.

Why is every "custom guitar builder" just another Tele Fender clone shop.

Wow, no shit.  Anderson makes great instruments.

Anderson makes a superb guitar.  If they're using a 2 bolt setup, I'd trust them.
They were on the very short list when I wanted a Tele type guitar.

I ended up with a AVRI '52 from Fender as it's neck felt strangely like 'home' for me, even given my strong Gibson lean.

A 2 bolt from some no- name?... yeah, I'd be leery.  But the Anderson T-top I played was among the best guitars I've ever played... just happened that the '52 I bought was better.

Yeah I'll pass on custom high dollar Tele copies.  Seriously the Tele is the easiest to build guitar design ever.  There is no reason for it to cost $2,500+.

At least there would be some labor in a carved top Les Paul copy.  Not saying I'd pay for that either.

Dude, do some research before you go making fun of something like this. You're not going to have problems with a Tom Anderson guitar.

The part that bothers me is the fewer bolts, the less amount of material is involved in the linking of the neck to the body.  The pic below demonstrates the cone of pressure.  We would be looking at the tapped joint in the pic:



Look at how little of the guitar body carries the stress of the joint.  I'd prefer twice as much volume of body material involved.

https://www.andersonguitarworks.com/wedge/

Yes, they have a nice tight joint but that doesn't affect the amount of wood actually subjected to the stress of holding the neck on the guitar. Just a little bit of wood as shown in the diagram above is actually being used to keep the neck from being pulled off the guitar.  Does this system work?  Yes...  Is it 1/2 as strong?  Yes.  Is the original Fender overbuilt.  Quite likely, but I'm a fan of overbuilt.



Yes, I know it's a P-Bass.

BTW in the pull-up pic at the bottom of the link you provided he's not stressing the bolted connection in a significant manner.  The geometry of the slot is bearing load.  I will admit the slot design is quite good and don't fault it at all.  My concern is when you rotate the guitar 90° to the direction in the pic and hang from the neck.  The screws will pull out with 1/2 the load of a traditional 4 bolt neck

It's not something I would worry about. I'm quite sure that there are gobs of Andersons that hang by their headstocks and I have yet to hear of any issues. They've been making them that way for several years and if it was an issue, the forums would have Anderson's head on a proverbial pike.

Yeah but guitar players are simple minded.  Just tell them that's how it was done in 1950 and that it improves the "Tone".  Then they will buy it like there's no tomorrow...

So I had friend who is a guitar collector and a Mech Engineer look at it. He said the staggering of bolts appears to be the best orientation to deal with torsion created by the truss rod, which I actually hadn't considered as I was thinking of everything Pete Townsend would do to it lol. He said GTG..

Thanks for the heads up on this thread G_S.

It's pretty easy to tell who here knows anything about Tom Anderson guitars and who doesn't. I've owned four of them (all the newer 2-bolt versions). There is no better production guitar than a TAG. I've owned Suhr, Gibson/Fender CS, ESP, etc. Tom's guitars are the best guitars I've ever owned or played PERIOD. Best playing, best fit&finish, most versatile, etc. Anyone who thinks that a TAG is just a derivative of a Fender Tele, Strat, etc hasn't played one. They are freaking AMAZING guitars. I can't even remember how many Fenders I've owned. They were all so far below TAG quality that it wasn't funny. I used to be uneducated about TAGS. I refused to play them, despite my music store manager buddy's ravings. I was afraid that he'd be right. He was. Once you spend time with a TAG... it changes what you expect from a guitar. Other guitars fall short. They're worth every penny. I don't love TAGs for forum cred. I love them because they are simply BETTER than other guitars.

Regarding the neck joint... three of my TAGs were strats(Classics) and one an LP (Bulldog). All sustained better than their Fender and Gibson counterparts.

I guess Dierks Bentley uses them too so Carl1000 can vouch too..  wish they had more detail on their site but with custom builders you'll call and get your questions answered if a serious buyer...

Yeah but there's no reason not to use 4 bolts...

My Taylor T5 has one neck bolt.

I have absolutely no love at all for bolt-on necks,  but that's just personal preference.  Anderson's guitars are as good as they get, for a bolt-on, pretty much.  They're on the level of Pensa-Suhrs from the 80s or Valley Arts before they got bought out by Gibson.

Micro-rant time.  It just burns my coals that some small companies learn how to make GREAT guitars that are far superior to those being made by the big companies,  and what eventually happens is that those big companies buy them out and either kill the brand or make it no better than their regular products.

Charvel-Jackson was bought out and trashed by Fender.   Valley Arts got turned into almost Epiphone level dreck by Gibson.   And Gibson basically made Steinberger disappear.

There are more examples, too. Fender bought and destroyed Hamer, ending the brand name in 2013 but then brought Hamer back, in name ONLY, in 2017.

These things make me angry every time I think about them.    None of those companies should have agreed to be bought out.

I don't think Tom will ever do that. He doesn't do the greed thing. He doesn't sell out and do an import line (like PRS did). He limits his staff and limits worldwide production to something like 600-700 guitars a year. Each dealer
is only allowed so many. He's obsessed with quality, period. He has ZERO paid endorsers. People who play Andys do so because they're the best. One of my buddys stores customers buys 2-3 Andys every year. He's got a couple dozen of them.

Regarding bolt-on versus neck-through or glued-in... I've owned dozens of each type and Tom's bolt-on guitars sustain like neck-throughs. It's that insanely flawless neck pocket. It might as well be glued-in. That's how perfect it is.

Having said all of that, my Schecter USA regular 4-bolt strat is the nicest strat I've ever owned that's not a TAG. I bought it because Tom got his start at the Schecter Custom Shop and I saw a lot of similarities between current Schecter USAs and TAGs before he changed his neck pockets to the 2-bolt trapezoid. It's nearly as flawless as Tom's current strats (which are both far better than any Fender). The Schecter is so good that my Anderson obsessed buddy is pondering ordering one for his shop, when all he's ever carried for Schecters up until now have been the imports. All the guys at the shop rave about how good my Schecter is. The Schecters single coil pickups are the best vintage style pickups I've ever heard. Tom designed those pickups when he was working for Schecter.

I realize that I come across as a rabid fan boy. And that's because I am. Having owned many top-tier guitars (and played countless others)... I know what's out there. I just haven't played any Fender-style guitar that's as good as an Anderson. And Tom is just a regular guy who answers the phone and emails. Just like Dave Friedman. Both are at the top of their professions... and both are extremely passionate about their products and happy to interact with their customers. So I stand on my soapbox often and preach to the world of their excellence. I've had a lot of nice gear that was great for forum cred, but didn't stay long because it didn't really have staying power. This gear does. Speaking of amazing gear made by humble guys... I recently acquired my first Greg Germino amp (Club 40). It's amazing and there's another guy who answers the phone. I don't know if John Suhr answers his phone or email,  but he too strikes me as that kind of builder. I didn't love the Suhr strat that I had, but it was flawless. I just didn't bond with it because it seemed stiff and sterile. But I've been jonesing to try one of his amps for years.

IIRC, John Suhr is known for answering emails. But his son is becoming prominent in the company (he heading up the development of the Pete Thorn PT50 at the moment), so for all I know, he may fill in for his Dad in that role here and there. But right now, from what I hear, John is extremely busy doing frets on the Suhr Aura guitars. It's their take on the Les Paul and he's doing the first 100 fret jobs himself.