Grain Direction For A Neck

[John Abbett]

All,

I bought some maple to make a few necks with, It's a large square chunk (5 x 5 x 40 ) that is basically quarter sawn. I can make the necks with the grain running horizontal or vertical.

Anyone have a thought which is preferable?

Looks wise, if I use the grain vertical, which would make it quarter sawn, the back of the neck would have straight lines going from the heel to the top of the headstock, and if I make it horizontal, the sides should have stright lines and the back should have some wave to the figure. .. I think I got that right.

What about strength and warping tendency, I'm looking at maybe 6+ necks out of this chunk and can go either way.

-John

[dpm99]

In martial arts, when you break boards, you always break on the grain. When you're holding a board for someone, if you hold it from the ends of the grain, chances are the martial artist will not be able to break it, and will probably hurt themselves trying. I'm not a neck expert, but I know how to break wood. The reason you make necks with the grain running vertically is because they're much stronger that way. Just a thought.

EDIT: Maybe I'm not sure what you're asking. If you're asking whether to do it as if it's quartersawn or flatsawn, that's a different matter.

-Dave

Edited June 25, 2008 by dpm99

[Geo]

Cut it up so it's quarter sawn. Although, I think people do use flatsawn maple for necks. I'm not sure how you're going to get six necks out of that though?

[fryovanni]

Dave,

In martial arts, when you break boards, you always break on the grain. When you're holding a board for someone, if you hold it from the ends of the grain, chances are the martial artist will not be able to break it, and will probably hurt themselves trying. I'm not a neck expert, but I know how to break wood. The reason you make necks with the grain running vertically is because they're much stronger that way. Just a thought.

You break that way because boards have about 1/5th the strength across the grain vs with the grain.

As for orientation. The best orientation for any board is going to relate to stability. You want the longest dimension oriented with the longtitudinal orientation(lowest dimensional change due to changes in moisture), the second widest should be oriented with the radial (about 1/2 the dimensional change due to changes in moisture), and the narrowest should be oriented with the tangential(the largest dimensional change due to moisture change). This would mean the best orientation would be quartersawn on a neck. Because a neck has fairly small dimensions in width and thickness, flatsawn is also viable(although technically less than ideal). Some woods are much closer in their shrinkage rates, such as Mahogany, and the stability vs orientation becomes even less of an issue. Straight grain in the longtitudinal is a very large consideration(probably the largest), and care should be taken to use straight clear grain. FWIW, unless you are trying to make a one piece neck(no scarf, or added heel), buy lumber that is closer to the dimension needed. It dries with less stress, and often is dried better not to mention is usually about 10-20% less expensive(reason for the lower cost relates to less risk and lower loss during drying). The difference in strength is not going to be that much, so it is less of a consideration.

Peace,Rich

[Mattia]

What Rich Said.

There's not a huge amount of strength difference (if any) between flatsawn and quartersawn wood for many woods, but quartered stuff is more dimensionally stable overall (yes yes, all wood for necks should be dry and stable and whatever, but why not hedge your bets?). Runout is also important (grain lines running along the entire length of the piece.

All that being said, rouhgly 99.9% of all fender-style necks are made of flatsawn maple.

[John Abbett]

Thanks for the input everyone.

These will be gibson style with a joint slightly below the nut. I intend to cut the boards and do the angle cut, flip and reattach method of getting my headstock angle.

I also intend to make sure they are dry and stable. That's why I want to go ahead and cut them and let them season for a while. This hunk of wood is pretty thick, I want to make sure it's dry in the middle, not just dry on the outside.

The reason I bought this board was the grain works so nicely. The boards that were closer to what I needed were almost all diagonal grain or had problems. It's getting harder to find the perfect board locally for any price. I had to look through a huge pile of curly maple before I found a board I could resaw into a top for my 335 that I would be happy with. I did find a board, but it was at the bottom of a huge pile.

Oh, quartersawn it is. That's why I bought this wood, but I just wanted to make sure.

Thanks again!

-John

-John

[Bryan316]

Do you have the facilities to slice it up into 3/4" boards? Cuz then you could reverse half of the boards, and glue them back together, so the crossing of grain patterns counteracts any internal aging forces that might occur as the wood dries or absorbs moisture.

[Prostheta]

Still, no substitute for using good quality seasoned wood with minimal runout!