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When is it ok to skip planing when gluing a multi-part neck?


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Hi all, I'm building a neck-through with a 3-piece mahogany neck. I've cut the 9" by 40" neck lumber into three strips and left them stickered for a couple of days. Now when I stack them, two of the pieces are flat, but the third piece deviates about 1.2mm over the course of the 40".

Is there a point where I don't need to mess with jointing and planing? The wood straightens with very little pressure, so my assumption is that the tension I'd be creating would be negligable. Is that accurate?

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I can just give you my personal opinion. I go for as little tension as possible in the neck so I would plan it until it is as flat as possible. Consider the time needed to plan that single piece compared to all the time you will invest in making the neck. If you stop now, make the neck and then have to scrap it further down the road because it twists... I just know I would be pretty mad at myself.

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I'm sure there's many that would say "just glue if up", but me personally, I won't use timber for a neck that's already trying to spring. It's just inviting future trouble.

Plane the hell out of it until it's straight, then put two more pieces either side of it. Or, throw it out and use a bit that isn't springing.

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I agree with the above. Try to get it nice and stable 1st with the least amount of deviation.

On the other hand, 1.2mm deviation over 40 inches is not very much. On a laminated neck, you could use the part of the wood where there is the least amount of deviation, or none at all.

One thing I learned in working with wood over the years is that every pass through a jointer, planer, table saw, rasp or any shaping tool releases some potential tension in the wood that could make it shift a little. The most important thing I look, above all, is grain.

You need straight grain with little runout for a neck. You cheat a little on a laminated neck but the basic rule still applies.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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