I'm kind of relieved to read my (NH) F-30 does have a dovetail joint still !
Not that I think they are necessarily much better, but it seems like one gets overwhelmed by good vibrations coming from the guitar more fully than with bolt-on necks...
If one subscribes to the idea that the neck and headstock act as resonating elements that feedback into the top (via the fretboard) and thereby contribute to overall tone (as I do), then the glued-in dovetail is for sure a more efficient method of getting body vibrations into the top since the hide glue will act as a better transmission medium than the bolt-on method where there's no actual physical continuity between the joined elements.
Edit: I guess that might be debatable, I might even be wrong, but I think specifically hide glue would transmit vibration between glued surfaces more efficiently than bare wood surfaces in contact no matter how tightly clamped.
It occurs to me that even the clamping pressure itself of the bolt on method may influence the vibe transmission between body and neck.
I think more manufacturers should adopt it. I mean I can’t imagine the bolt on design being too expensive to incorporate.
I believe that although material costs might be little greater, it's actually cheaper from a labor-time standpoint which makes it net cheaper to produce.
Had two D40s - one was a 1969 with Hoboken label but made in RI, the other was a 1973 RI label that needed a neck reset when I bought it. Asked Chris Bozung to reset neck on 73 using a bolt on neck. Both were light weight D40s - with '69 being dovetail neck and '73 (now) with bolt on neck.
Restrung with D'Addario EJ16s. No scientific study or documented research but I tried to find a or hear a or feel differences in sound or ease of playing. They were as close to the same as my ears and fingers could determine during six months of playing both.
And in spite of my statement above I agree that for most people the difference may not even be "hearable" as you and Sandy point out.
But ever since I felt the neck of my D25 vibrating in my hand one day, I realized there was a whole other element of sound production involving the neck and even headstock mass.
'NOTHER Edit:
I'd actually be open-minded about buying a bolt-on neck guitar if it sounded good and had confidence in the maker (I'd trust Oxnard's methods), don't mean to sound like I'm a purist about set necks.
(Although I was for a while.)
And truthfully that whole ease/economy of re-setting a bolt-on has huge appeal to me.