a couple of old European methods

[Dave Bagwill]

The adjustable (from outside) neck - a few examples - and the cantilevered neck. Just some fyi.
Yeah the pix are not in order.

As to the cantilivered neck - it's more than a gimmick. Somewhere on another forum Ken Cierp mentioned that he really liked the idea - that was a number of years ago and he might have a different view now.
-it does allow for great movement of the top under the f/b extension IF no upper transverse bar is used. Otherwise that area is sonically a very little contribution.
-It does give easier access to the upper frets
-It does pull the bridge into more activity - I'm not as sure about this.

As to the adjustable neck - it's easy enough to do, and sure beats a reset or having to change out saddles for varying conditions. And it has been used for over 200 years, successfully.

I do have a question about the geometries of the cantilevered necks and the angle relation to the bridge/saddle. Does anyone have an idea how the neck angle is different?

[Dave Bagwill]

Here's a link to a very long thread that is also very interesting and informative - about all you need to know about adjustable necks pros and cons, lots of pix, a number of well known luthiers.

http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=474

[John Parchem]

I have considered trying Mike Doolin's adjustable neck method. At the time I had a pretty detailed description with diagrams. I did get to see it in operation and it looks pretty useful and cleanly done.

[Dave Bagwill]

John - is that diagram and detailed description available from you or elsewhere?

[John Parchem]

http://www.doolinguitars.com/articles/adjnecksys/

He has quite a few interesting luthiery articles on his web site.

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks John!

[ken cierp]

Those adjustable neck joints are so cool -- and actually invented so long ago, even on lutes! There's a guy that hooked up with Fender and has a patent a hinge that will allow the neck to be folded over for travel and simply snapped back in place -- the deal is the guitar stays in tune. I'm searching the patent office drawings to see how it works -- seems there must be elements of it that could apply to an adjustable neck system.