How Jaros Guitars Are Built

These paragraphs explain how guitars are usually built.

Most archtop style guitars are built by taking a rectangular piece of Mahogany and laminating or "Gluing" a rectangular piece of Maple to the top.  Then the basic shape is cut out on a bandsaw and carved from that.  Of course Mahogany and Maple are the common woods used but guitar builders aren't necessarily limited to those two woods.  I am just using them as an example for the sake of simplifying this explanation. For example Gibson, Paul Reed Smith even my own Quicksilver guitars are constructed from rectangular laminated billets of wood.

Ed Roman Centurion Guitars

There are only very few guitars, constructed differently.

When James Jaros designed his guitars he decided to use a deep mortise and extra long neck Tenon design. This would totally eliminate dead spots on a neck and give the guitar a tremendous amount of stability. This type of  construction would also serve to add volume, tone and incredible sustain. He also makes available a fitted arch top so that he can install his neck at the correct angle underneath it.

3/4 Deep Set Neck Tenon

This idea in itself was not completely original, Other builders Grover Jackson, BC Rich, Alembic, myself and even Gibson with the Firebird had built guitars with a neck through body design.  Les Paul when he originally designed the SG had intended it to be a neck through body.  Of course Gibson did not produce them that way. Gibson opted for the much less expensive set neck like the Les Paul or a PRS Custom.

Over the years I have learned a lot of things from some of the industries best and most innovative builders.  People like Bernie Rico, Paul  Reed Smith, Dean Zelinsky, Grover Jackson, and Joel Dantzig of Hamer.

In my conversations with Joel I learned even more about constructing guitars. I questioned Joel about the reasons why Hamer never did a neck through body. His answer was "He didn't want to break the sound board or tone board or the top of the guitar" The normal construction method for a neck through body would be to use a neck slightly longer than the one in the picture and glue "sides" or "wings" on each side.  This method of construction does not lend itself well to an Archtop and of course the main soundboard or "top" of the guitar is broken in half and separated by the neck itself.
 

Jim Jaros surmised the ultimate construction technique would be to have a neck through body with a one piece archtop.

Rick Gledura is now one of the very few manufacturers who has collaborated with Jim and myself that also offers this system.

The insurmountable construction problem is.....

Q. How can you get the 3/4 deep neck tenon set into an Archtop style body? 

A. It simply can't be done using any normal or even computerized woodworking tools.

This of course means that PRS, Gibson, Ibanez, Jackson, BC Rich, Hamer, Fender, G&L or any of the other mainstream companies will never do it. (It's way too expensive)

To accomplish this feat you have to make a separate body and a separate top (twice as much work). Then you have even more work to attach the two. First the pre made body with a 12" mortise is attached to the vacuum table, Then the pre made neck with the 12" Tenon is fitted directly into the body. When that is all glued up, you then attach the pre carved archtop directly to the guitar.

James Jaros uses only quartersawn Maple, Korina, Mahogany or Premium Sapele for neck wood. He does not offer Quilted Maple. Slab cutting (cutting the tree up into pancake style pieces) works well for tops, backs and veneers but it simply isn't straight grained, strong or stable  enough for a neck. If you ever see a guitar with quilted neck avoid it like the plague. No matter how pretty the wood is, I guarantee there will be huge problems with the neck.