All Mahogany Neck And Fingerboard

[ByronBlack]

I've come into some 36 inch 30mm strips of mahogany, and i'm thinking of possibley using them as a fender style neck (i.e no fingerboard) can this be realisically done with mahogany and get a good sound, or are all one-piece neck and fingerboards best of using maple?

Also i've purchased some idigbo to use as a body blank, i've been told it comes from the same species as Korina and Limba, anyone have personal experience with this?

[frank falbo]

No experience with "idigbo" but if you are going to use Mahogany as a fretboard, I'd grain fill it and high gloss poly it. I don't think it's a great idea but you'll never know until you try. It won't hold fret tangs and barbs well, because the pores are large and plentiful, and it tears and shreds easily. An alternative might be to radius the neck and use a thin curved Rosewood board, like the old Fenders. That way you'd have more mahogany, but a Rosewood playing/fretting surface.

[Southpa]

Mahogany has been used on some acoustic guitars, ukeleles, dulcimers etc. in the past. I guess its "do-able" for an electric guitar...why not? Just make sure you treat it like mahogany. That means grain filling and a good clearcoat, I would recommend polyurethane.

Seating frets might also be an issue. We normally prebend frets to a slightly smaller radius than the fretboard radius on rosewood, ebony and maple necks to prevent the ends of the fret from popping up. The wood is hard enough to hold the center of the fret down. You might have to match your fret radius closer to the fretboard radius to minimize internal stress and prevent them from popping out of the softer mahogany.

edit: Yeah, what frank said.

Edited August 26, 2005 by Southpa

[ByronBlack]

Think i'll stick with a rosewood fingerboard, the disadvantages seem to out way the savings of a fingerboard :-)

Although i'll keep the mahogany for the bulk of the neck. Thanks for the quick replies!