Building A Neck, Where To Start?

[AXofBSR]

I'm looking to build a thru-neck out of maple... Where do I start? What should I look for wood-wise? What sizes and how many pieces of maple should I buy? What kind of tools do I need to shape the neck?

[ToddW]

I'm looking to build a thru-neck out of maple... Where do I start? What should I look for wood-wise? What sizes and how many pieces of maple should I buy? What kind of tools do I need to shape the neck?

There's a tutorial on neck building on this site. Read that. I'd also buy Melvin's Hiscock's book:

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electr...7625252-8120052

That'll get you started on the crafting.

Wood is another story all together. Hiscock's book will give you a start, but you might want to read a bit on wood movement in the radial and tangential planes, and what quarter sawn means so you can orient the growth rings and planes nicely. You've got some searches to run, but there's lots of info online.

Have fun!

Todd

Edited April 20, 2007 by ToddW

[Primal]

Wood is another story all together. Hiscock's book will give you a start, but you might want to read a bit on wood movement in the radial and tangential planes, and what quarter sawn means so you can orient the growth rings and planes nicely. You've got some searches to run, but there's lots of info online.

I disagree. There is no reason for a newbie to worry too much about wood movement. Its been discussed, and I believe that there have been some (unofficial) experimental results showing that an old Fender flatsawn neck is just as stable as a similar quartersawn neck and that the quartersawn voodoo is mostly just that, voodoo. Do you think Leo Fender examined each piece and tested the tangential and radial movement? Of course not. But I digress.

Knowing the difference between rift sawn, flat sawn, and quarter sawn wood is a very good idea, however. Flatsawn and quartersawn are the way to go -- riftsawn should be avoided at all costs, especially for necks, since the orientation of the growth rings would tend to cause the board to warp. I think the most important thing is buying a nice, clean (free from defects like knots, etc) piece of maple or mahogany (arguably the two most popular neck woods in guitar making).

That's just what I believe to be true, of course.

[ToddW]

Wood is another story all together. Hiscock's book will give you a start, but you might want to read a bit on wood movement in the radial and tangential planes, and what quarter sawn means so you can orient the growth rings and planes nicely. You've got some searches to run, but there's lots of info online.

I disagree. There is no reason for a newbie to worry too much about wood movement. Its been discussed, and I believe that there have been some (unofficial) experimental results showing that an old Fender flatsawn neck is just as stable as a similar quartersawn neck and that the quartersawn voodoo is mostly just that, voodoo. Do you think Leo Fender examined each piece and tested the tangential and radial movement? Of course not. But I digress.

Knowing the difference between rift sawn, flat sawn, and quarter sawn wood is a very good idea, however. Flatsawn and quartersawn are the way to go -- riftsawn should be avoided at all costs, especially for necks, since the orientation of the growth rings would tend to cause the board to warp. I think the most important thing is buying a nice, clean (free from defects like knots, etc) piece of maple or mahogany (arguably the two most popular neck woods in guitar making).

That's just what I believe to be true, of course.

I don't think you disagreed. Like you said, knowing the terms and understanding how wood moves is what is important.

I don't think I said the wood had to be quartersawn, but learning what quartersawn is and why it has advantages will explain how to look at the growth ring orientation. And to be fair, at the extreme, some species fail in shear stress much later against quartersawn wood than against flat sawn. I don't believe it has as much effect on bending strength, which is more relevent to a guitar, but don't know that for a fact. I didn't see that in Hoadley's book when I went through it, and that 's the best reference I have.

Anyway, I'd think even riftsawn is fine if he's laminating a neck blank since he can reverse the boards when he glues them up.

Todd

[westhemann]

I prefer flatsawn laminated necks.They feel stiffer,and to my ears they sound crisper and a bit more lively.

I have also been known to use riftsawn wood,I just use it on the outer laminates and oppose them.

[Southpa]

Rule of thumb for necks woods is either flat sawn or quartersawn. When looking at the wood from the end the growth rings should be either straight across (flat) or straight up and down (quarter). All wood expands and contracts with temp and humidity changes, doesn't matter how its cut. When flat and quartersawn wood expands and contracts it does so evenly throughout the wood. If your neck wood was cut any other way it would expand / contract unevenly causing the neck to twist.

[radrobgray]

I have also been known to use riftsawn wood,I just use it on the outer laminates and oppose them.

i too have done this as i could not get a hold of flat or quartered maple at the time, will this lead to my neck warping in some bad way? its a neck thru or 3 maple lams with rose wood veneer between the grain is orented like so:

\|/ on the three peices

[westhemann]

i too have done this as i could not get a hold of flat or quartered maple at the time, will this lead to my neck warping in some bad way? its a neck thru or 3 maple lams with rose wood veneer between the grain is orented like so:

\|/ on the three peices

That's how I have done mine.I have some necks that have been in use a few years now,and I have never had a problem.I would never use riftsawn in a one piece neck though.

[MP63]

Draw it out, full size on a piece of stable paper. Side view and top view. Get all the neck angles right with the hardware you will use.

I had a local hardwood supplier sand three pieces of maple to 1" and I glued them up. Perfect, flat and ready to go.

The only tool I used that is not too common was a joiner/planer. That gave me the perfect surface for the fingerboard and truss rod. You can do it by hand with a plane but you need patience. I drew my plans directly on the wood surface. Everything worked off of that. I used a hand saw (carefully) and smoothed everything out with chisels, files and scrapers. I sold my band saw as I did not use it as much I thought aI would and used in its place, a coping saw and jig saw. Worked great.

Don't feel you need all the fancy, expensive tools. I had them all and find I am selling most. I don't do production, so hand tools worked great.

I think you will get a better sense of acomplishment when done.

Remember, they are tools not jewels.

Good luck and have fun.

Mike

[fryovanni]

I think it is good for anyone working with wood to understand the material. Understanding how glue dries, basic composition of the material, strength and flexablity as it ralates to the grain, density, hardness, glueing and nailing properties, finishing properties, will help a person avoid many problems. I don't care if it is a cabnet your building or guitar.

As far as quarter sawn vs Flatsawn or even wood sawn at 45deg to perp. The most important factor by far is that the wood be well dried and stable before you build with it. Strength differences between these cuts will be marginal in most all cases. In terms of shrinkage and expansion and stability. Straight grain(be it flat to quarter) is most important, as it will improve stability and has the highest strength(cross grain strength is about 20% of strength with the grain). Given the wood is expanding and contracting in a fairly even fasion in relation to the fretboard plane all should be optimal. The only(slight) difference between flat and quarter that would make a case for one over the other would be ralated to string to fret plane stability. Since we don't really care as much about the neck getting a couple thousandths wider, but we don't like the idea of the frets getting a couple thousandths higher(we want optimal stability between strings and frets). A case could be made for quartersawn as its change in dimensions is less than flatsawn. I qualify all that with the difference in change IS slight, and you have a fretboard to also consider, AND that does not consider what is happening at the bridge under the change in temp/humidity. So take that FWIW.

#1 DRY STABLE WOOD. No magic, give it TIME(just weight and sticker it, and forget it for as long as you can). #2 Straight clear grain. #3 other factors that may make small improvements in stability.

Peace,Rich

P.S. To put shrinkage vs orientation into perspective. The volumetric shrinkage numbers you will see published are based on shrinkage from green(wet) to fairly dry(12% moisture)wood. The total volumetric shrinkage for a species may be 10% from green to dry. However the shrinkage and expansion post initial drying will be much smaller than this. So although these are real factors to consider(we try to build with the absolute best stability in mind). They are not likely to be problematic unless you are really pushing tight tolerances(maybe low action) and subjecting the instrument to large changes in humidity and temp.

[iskim86]

the very first step is to of course plan it out carefully, making templates or making measurements carefully...

measure five times, cut once.