A neck-through-body guitar is a type of guitar, with the neck running through the body. The term is often used to describe an electric guitar having just such a configuration. The design is not particularly common, due to the challenges posed by its construction.
Some Advantages Of Neck Thru Body Guitars
Neck-through-body guitars are considered by some to produce better sustain than bolt on or set neck guitars. The theory behind this is that the neck and body are vibrating as one piece.
Neck-through-body guitars may also have better sustain because of the smaller amount of wood that must vibrate, meaning they can often have bigger bodies without sacrificing tone.
Some acoustic guitars have neck-through-body construction, allowing the body to vibrate more freely, thus taking the edge off of the resonating chamber made of wood and/or steel, which can dampen the tone considerably.
Disadvantages of Neck-Through-Body Guitars
Though they are in many respects superior to other guitars in terms of sound quality, neck-thru-body guitars are less stable when compared to bolt on or set neck instruments. The neck is more prone to failure when compared to other guitar types. The neck “springs back” and vibrates more vigorously, causing greater stress on the joint between the neck and the body.
Guitars with necks through the body have a much smaller area for reinforcing the neck joint, causing a higher likelihood of breakage and failure of that section of the instrument.
Because of this instability, it is especially important to purchase a high quality instrument if you plan on purchasing one.
Other types: