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I'm thinking of building a guitar with a detachable neck for travel. I like the latch idea used in Brunner or Journey guitars. Does anyone know if these are proprietary latches or are they something that is commercially available? I've spent a couple hours looking for something equivalent on the internet but, so far, no luck.

Thanks,
Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Have you asked them?

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I did try asking Luke Brunner via the contact form on his web site but just got back an instant reply saying that my message looked like spam and was rejected.

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Hi Pat,
I have been building travel guitars with detachable necks for a number of years, where the neck stores inside the body (during travel) and the action can be adjusted by the turn of an Allen wrench. They use easily sourced hardware available at most Big Box and other hardware stores.
You would be quite welcome to copy the design, and I could answer any questions you might have.
They can be built to whatever model you choose and the outward appearance and playability is that of a regular guitar.

Thanks Clay. Can you tell me more about the neck/body joint in your guitar, i.e. how is the neck actually attached to the body? I want to build a classical so I don't think I would go the "Full Monty" of actually taking the strings off the bridge (which would be a PITA) so I could put the neck in the body for storage - being able to simply lie it beside the body in a back-pack would be enough for me.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Hi Pat,
The picture showing the neck/body attachment refused to load, so I will have to take another . The neck attaches with a socket head cap screw recessed into the lower part of the heel and pivots on two metal "studs" located in the body slightly below the fingerboard extension.
Having the strings detach from the bridge can be a nice feature even if the neck doesn't store inside the body. I use a bridge design that allows the strings to slip out the back of the bridge. I have gone through a couple iterations of the design and have a picture of the newest one that I am happy with. Before removing the strings I place a "bag clip" (which has slots cut in it) around them to keep them from tangling.

Thanks again. While the bag clip is neat, the main problem with taking the strings on and off a classical is that they are tied around a tie block on the bridge. Not quite as convenient as having strings with balls on the ends.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Hi Pat,
There are several ways to add "ball ends" to nylon strings (tying knots, gluing beads on the end, or by melting the ends of the strings to form a "blob"). you can also buy nylon strings with ball ends: https://www.stringsbymail.com/classical ... amond-949/

A few more pictures showing some of the mods to make the guitar neck removable and transportable:
The first picture shows the "studs" that hold the neck in position that allows it to pivot slightly to raise and lower the action.
The second picture shows the readily available (and easily replaceable) low cost hardware needed to make it a "travel guitar"
The third picture shows the "hollow" in the neck block that the peghead fits into to secure it in the body and the T nut used to bolt the lower part of the heel to the body when assembled. The forth picture hopefully shows this idea more clearly.
If you don't want to store the neck inside the body a greatly simplified design can be made. No Tail port and neck cradle, no hollow neck block, and for a classical, no truss rod need be used.
One thing not pictured is the "cap" for the nut which holds the strings in place when the neck is off the guitar. It can be either screwed on with small screws or glued on with water (vinegar) soluble glue so it can be removed when nut repair is needed.

Hi Clay,
Thanks very much for posting those pictures on how your travel guitar works. Those are some very interesting ideas I will take into consideration. My apologies for taking so long to respond.
Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Hi Pat,
No apology necessary. There are a number of travel guitar designs out there and I will be interested in seeing what you come up with. The intention I had was to build a full size (and normal string length) instrument that would work as a "normal" guitar most of the time, but would also be able to be disassembled and be carried compactly when required. The somewhat accidental ability to adjust the string height (and never need to do a neck reset) was just an added bonus.
There are some elements of the design that add complexity to the construction, many of which come from the desire to store the neck inside the body. Even if that is not needed, I would still suggest making a bridge that allows the strings to be easily removed. Originally I passed the strings through a separate retainer, which I saw Brunner make an improved version of when he later started building travel guitars. I didn't like the idea of having a small, somewhat delicate, easily lost, and difficult to replace piece to keep track of (I like my current design better!), but that might be a possibility if you want to tie on classical strings in the usual fashion.
And I may be completely wrong - you may find having the strings still attached to both body and neck when they are apart is not a problem for you at all. I'm not known for my omniscience and infallibility.
So good luck with your project, and if there is anything I can help with don't hesitate to ask!