A guitar neck that is secured to the body by a series of bolts or wood screws. This term is almost always applied to solid body electric guitars; Leo Fender’s first electric guitar, which would eventually be called the Telecaster, was the first prominent bolt-on neck design. Ironically, Fender didn’t use bolts at all – his guitar neck was attached to the slab body with four wood screws, with the joint further strengthened by a metal cover plate.

Although most acoustic guitar manufacturers use a glued set neck, Taylor utilizes a patented bolt-on design in which two bolts pass horizontally through the body and into the neck. A third, shorter bolt passes vertically into the heel of the guitar neck.