Since I started lurking around this site I've noticed every few months that a recurring debate will take place. The big question is "Should I glue my stick-through neck directly to the soundboard/lid or should there be a gap?"

Let's quickly recap the basic stances on each side of the debate:

- There should be a gap between the neck and lid to allow for better reverberation/sustain/tone/etc. from the strings though the bridge through the board and into your ears.

- The rebuttal to this is usually: it makes no difference to the sound/tone of the guitar; the pressure of the strings on the bridge can cause the soundboard to warp; weakens overall structure.

I'm sure there are other points that I'm missing but that's not really the point of this post. I think both arguments have merit and i dont want to make any concrete judgements on proper technique when I'm still figuring out what does and doesn't work for me. My rule if I'm unsure is try both and find out what I like better. There is usually a reason why both options exist. But..there might be a third option here. A sort of middle ground build that might make both camps happy.

I was pondering another foreseeable problem on a future build and I had an idea pop into my head. What if, instead of completely cutting away all of the material to leave a gap, there is a channel cut through the majority of the neck material leaving two braces on either side.

This could be done fairly easily with a hole saw and a jig saw. I would leave about 1/4" on each side. The line along the side is another idea I had to possibly cut away even more material. It would look kind of like a arched bridge. I think doing it this way would give plenty of support for the bridge yet allow the soundboard to vibrate freely. There's just as much or more bracing stuck to the top of an acoustic guitar, so I don't see how it could interfere with tonal quality.

What do you think of this for option 3? Has anyone tried something like this before? I think I'll give it a shot once I'm back in the shop making saw dust again.

Also, I'm not trying to open the old debate up again, but if you must voice an opinion about it, go ahead. I'm not the boss of you.

Nathan