deanbo Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 HI I'm Deanbo a newbie around here.I want to build a thru-neck guitar for myself and i would like to know if Teak is suitable for use as the spine of a three-piece neck of a Thru-neck guitar.I asked a Luthier i know and he could see no reason not to but has no idea of it' tonal properties and apart from I have read about Teak being "oily" which i don't understand as mine is very old straight,stable and dry. I have quite a bit of Teak, in some long lengths too and as i am quite poor and i know Teak is used for furniture. I assume it would be structurally strong enough and i really need to make a thru-neck as i have small hands and find the heel of a bolt-on very obtrusive. I repair guitars and have built a few bolt-ons and made a few necks from scratch except for the fingerboard.I have always bought them and intend to do so again. I want it to be 24 3/4" scale as that is easier for me to play than 25 1/2". I joined this forum yesterday and may i take this opportunity to tell you all how impressed i am with the wealth of knowledge in here.I would also like to ask a quick question. I found the thread on thru-neck guitars[pinned] but i see red x's insted of pics ? Is there some plug-in that's required to see them ? What is the file extension that is used ?I am running Xp Pro with SP 2 and IE 6 as my browser. Thanks to all that can help and hi to everyone and please feel free to ask any questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnewman Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 First for the easy answer: The reason some threads' pictures don't show up is that projectguitar.com doesn't host any pictures - the pictures are stored on users' own space, be it their own website or a public picture server like photobucket. The pictures are then linked into posts. If the person's site (or host) is down, or if the person removes the pictures, the tag is there but there's no picture - so the little red X shows up. As to the teak part... teak's usually pretty expensive wood, and it's beautiful, but I haven't seen any guitars made out of it... the old ramparts guitar tonewoods list say this: If your middle midrange or top octave needs taming, this is a good one to use. Its resonance peak is in the lower midrange/upper bass. Similar to Soft Maple, and by some extents to hard Mahogany, although exhibits a lower velocity of speed, therefore more punch, and a bit better tonal separation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 I have actually built two instruments with teak set necks, an electric mandolin and an electric ukulele! (OK the second one was mor of a toy) It worked fine for those instruments and the sort scale I was using. One thing to consider is that teak has very much oil in it. I always (nearly) have angeld heads, cut from a straight board and glued on, and I had a glu failure in the head joint on the mandolin. I think it was caused by the glue not getting enough "stickum" to te oily wood. For that joint I used white PVA glue (i think!). For the repair i used thin viscosity superglue, and it still holds the head in plase after about two years. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 I could be completely wrong here, but I was always under the impression that teak was pretty toxic. Is that right? If that's the case, then just wear a dust mask. Oh yeah, a quick search revealed these threads pertaining to neck thrus: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...hl=neck+through http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...opic=17372&st=0 (mine) http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...opic=16064&st=0 http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...topic=9156&st=0 Maybe looking through though will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 ALL wood dust is pretty toxic if you breathe it, and quite a bit of it can be a skin irritant (Iroko, Pau Ferro, Cocobolo are three that I can think of, off the top of my head, that are pretty high on the allergenic list). Teak is heavy, oily, and not exactly cheap. I'd look for some African mahogany or similar myself, as the bulk, but if you like the look and want to include a teak laminate, it might work. If it's oily when gluing, you may need to resort to a special epoxy (like the All Woods epoxy LMI sells). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemleggat Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 In the UK teak is not really available to buy anymore, its too expensive! People hoard it. Maybe sell what you got and buy more suitable woods for your guitar build. Teak can be used as it is stable, strong and about the right weight and takes an good finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanbo Posted September 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 Well gents thanks very much for the help.I love the links with the pics of the thru-necks. In fact all of it is great and as i have a bit of Teak i think i will use it,just keep my eye on gluing.I use titebond usually but have used loads of superglue too in my repairs. I recently got two seven foot long mahogany bench tops from my local school which i attended years ago for free over two inches thick and over two feet wide. There are are a few knocks and dents but nothing too bad and i remember them from when i attended,and that was over twenty years ago. I'll make a start on it and thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 I recently got two seven foot long mahogany bench tops from my local school which i attended years ago for free over two inches thick and over two feet wide. There are are a few knocks and dents but nothing too bad and i remember them from when i attended,and that was over twenty years ago. Wow! Thats really cool, I bet we will see quite a bit of mahogany guitars from you, necks and bodies. Maybe do a maple/mahogany laminate neck through, or maybe a mahogany/black limba neck but that might be the ultimate warm tone in my guess, the maple one might be more even, although there are plenty of other factors including fretboard and wing choices that would affect the tone. Can't wait to see some of your work, good luck man. Later. Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Awesome! Thos boards should do you nicely for quite a few instruments. A note on glues, though: Superglue is a lousy choice for structural repairs under tension. Inlay, binding, that sort of thing? Fine. Laminates, headstock repairs? Nuh-uh. It's brittle, has very little heat resistance, and given a hard enough whack, will simply pop loose. Polyurethane or epoxy are better choices for glue-ups that never need taking apart, although poly in particular needs very good clamping, and may leave visible lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Welcome to the forum Before you apply whatever glue to your teak, wipe down the gluing surfaces first with acetone or naptha to remove as much oil as you can from the glue joint. Use paper towels, you'll see the towels get stained from the oil, just change to a new (wet) towel and keep going until it wipes off fairly clean. Then glue and clamp within 15 minutes. That will give you a stronger joint. For sanding oily woods like this (and ebony too), I much prefer an actual respirator over a simple dust mask. First time I ever sanded ebony I used a dust mask, and still had black boogers at the end of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 (edited) Awesome! Thos boards should do you nicely for quite a few instruments. A note on glues, though: Superglue is a lousy choice for structural repairs under tension. Inlay, binding, that sort of thing? Fine. Laminates, headstock repairs? Nuh-uh. It's brittle, has very little heat resistance, and given a hard enough whack, will simply pop loose. Polyurethane or epoxy are better choices for glue-ups that never need taking apart, although poly in particular needs very good clamping, and may leave visible lines. ← Dont agree about the heat resistance. Also have a look here: http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Da.../gluechart.html One more person that think SG is OK for stuctual use strengthvise. Having said that, I must add that I woudn't use it when building a new guitar. I've got stuck on the glue one time to much, and having to cut my self loose with a knife. I also would hate to have the mess all over the shop when the clamps start to press the glue out off the joint...and sticking to everything... including the clamps...and the clamping blocks...and the bench...and everything else Edited September 9, 2005 by SwedishLuthier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 Dont agree about the heat resistance. Also have a look here: http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Da.../gluechart.html One more person that think SG is OK for stuctual use strengthvise. Having said that, I must add that I woudn't use it when building a new guitar. I've got stuck on the glue one time to much, and having to cut my self loose with a knife. I also would hate to have the mess all over the shop when the clamps start to press the glue out off the joint...and sticking to everything... including the clamps...and the clamping blocks...and the bench...and everything else ← Ah, ok. Well, Frank's the repair expert. I have seen several comments from others (MIMF) about instruments quite literally falling apart when assembled only with superglue. Thing with heat and CA: when it gets hot enough, it simply vaporises, poof. Other glues start creeping, CA just stops working. And yeah, I quite hate CA glue ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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