streamlights Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Howdy out there. I have been searching for hours on this topic without much luck, so here goes... I have a newer Gibson with a "French heel" also known as a Spanish heel. Guitars with these heels are extremely difficult to reset necks on... so if I'm planning on keeping this guitar for a lifetime, what is this distinguished forum's opinion on Light and lighter gauge strings? Is the risk of the inevitable neck reset compounded radically when moving between 10's, 11's and 12's on a steel string? I currently have Lights 0.012's tuned down 1/2 step. Any advice would be appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Howdy out there. I have been searching for hours on this topic without much luck, so here goes... I have a newer Gibson with a "French heel" also known as a Spanish heel. Guitars with these heels are extremely difficult to reset necks on... so if I'm planning on keeping this guitar for a lifetime, what is this distinguished forum's opinion on Light and lighter gauge strings? Is the risk of the inevitable neck reset compounded radically when moving between 10's, 11's and 12's on a steel string? I currently have Lights 0.012's tuned down 1/2 step. Any advice would be appreciated! A French heel and a Spanish look similar, but are actually quite different. Both have pointy ends on the outside of the guitar. That's where the similarity ends. The neck of a guitar with a French heel attaches to the body of the guitar with a neck block, which is separate piece of wood inside the guitar. The neck of the guitar attaches to the block via a dovetail or other joint. The block is built into the body of the guitar. In this method of building, the neck and body (with block) are built separately and joined together. A guitar with a SPANISH heel does not attach to the body via a separate neck block. Instead, the neck and the wood that functions like the block (and in this case also includes a little foot or tab that extends further down the guitar's back) are fashioned into a single assembly. The sides of the neck assembly are notched below the heel to receive the sides of the guitar, and the tab or foot is glued to the guitar's back. In this method of building, the guitar body is built around the neck. That is why it is so difficult to remove. Your Gibson most certainly has a pointy French heel, but the neck is attached to the body via a dovetail joint, which makes it easy to remove in the future, if a neck reset is necessary. Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Howdy out there. I have been searching for hours on this topic without much luck, so here goes... I have a newer Gibson with a "French heel" also known as a Spanish heel. Guitars with these heels are extremely difficult to reset necks on... so if I'm planning on keeping this guitar for a lifetime, what is this distinguished forum's opinion on Light and lighter gauge strings? Is the risk of the inevitable neck reset compounded radically when moving between 10's, 11's and 12's on a steel string? I currently have Lights 0.012's tuned down 1/2 step. Any advice would be appreciated! I have a Nick Lucas reissue with french heel. I keep mediums on it. I don't think neck reset is such a big issue. I had this guitar set up for mediums at Gryphon Strings in Palo Alto. They did not indicate any issue with mediums. At the Gibson Homecoming sessions we were told numerous times you can use mediums on any Montana Gibson acoustic. In any case, do you want to live your life worrying about neck resets? Put whatever gauge you like on it, play that thing and don't look back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phelonious Ponk Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 What red said, except I think he meant to say Spanish at the top of his second paragraph. Your Gibson has a dove tail joint; it can handle mediums. Though I'm not sure they are necessarily better. I've tried them on my OJ, with its.stiff Adi top, and they sound different, not necessarily better. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 What red said, except I think he meant to say Spanish at the top of his second paragraph. P Sacre blue, you are right! Spanish, not French. I will fix it, tout de suite. Merci beaucoup. I hope I did not make any more mistakes, because I have exhausted all the French language I remember from school! Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streamlights Posted December 27, 2013 Author Share Posted December 27, 2013 Thank you to everyone who contributing above^! I've found exactly the answer(s) I needed here, conclusion: "No biggie, worry not". Special thanks to RED for providing that in depth detail. Right on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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