buttmonk Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 Hi board, I am going to build a V based around a Carvin NT6 neck thru. I have couple of Carvins and I really love the necks. Bridge is gunna be a recessed tunomatic, pickups will be Bare Kuckle Pickups Nailbombs. I want a guitar for hard rock and metal with occasional blues usage. I want something that really has a growl or howl to it in the lows and mids but is not muddy. Something that is not too bright and twangy but also is not dead in the upper registers either, something that sings the high frequencies and will cut thru but does not make ur ears bleed. Despite all these flowery adjectives, it should be fairly balanced in response across the freqeuncy spectrum. For the neck I was thinking 5 peice laminate: maple-walnut-maple-walnut-maple, ebony fingerboard and SS frets. For the body wings I was thinking walnut or claro walnut. So, what do you think? Does my wood choice match my tone requirements at all? Anyone got any better ideas or advice based on experience? Regards the neck woods I am limited to what Carvin has to offer, for the body wings I am not so restricted. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 alder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ae3 Posted September 14, 2008 Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 (edited) Woah I'm doing exactly the same thing! Nt6 from stew-mac. I'm using QLD maple for the body wings, looks great, haven't got far enough to tell you about tone. Apparently it sounds like Hondorous mahogany. Mahogany is great to balance out a maple neck-through, but I'm not to learned in the woods that you are using. Edited September 14, 2008 by ae3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted September 14, 2008 Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 Walnut and Maple are nice woods. Hard Maple is very stiff and dense, Black Walnut, Red Maple are pretty stiff and dense, Claro Walnut and Silver Maple are a little lighter but still stiff, Western or Bigleaf Maple is lighter and less stiff yet. You have a wide range of material there. I tend to not like Silver Maple. You can often spot it because it will have bits of brown streaking(not ray flecks), and sometimes you will see a greenish discoloration. I think it is too heavy for it's stiffness, and often is not very stable(likely because of odd growth patterns more common to silver). I really like Claro Walnut because it is lighter than Black, but seems to be similar in stiffness and strength. The coloration from the minerals in the soil it picks up here in Oregon and N. California are flat out amazing at times. Good quality Red or Rock Maple make amazing electric necks. Alder is a great wood as Wes pointed out. Easy to work with, easy to get, med. light weight. Great body wood for sure. No point in overthinking though, as you could likely overshadow any differences in the wood with things like CF reinforcement, the weight of your tuners, shape of the neck, size and shape of the headstock, shape of the wings and or carves or cavities, and so on. Not to mention other hardware and electronics. As long as you stay with good clean cuts of somewhat traditional woods the differences will be subtle and vary with other design considerations. Now if you want to make an oversized Lignum Vitae body and mate it with a Basswood neck, or vice versa. You may have to really put more thought into that choice of woods. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttmonk Posted September 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 Thx for the input guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 14, 2008 Report Share Posted September 14, 2008 Allow me to be more verbose than my previous post...I am constantly amazed at how well alder handles ALL types of music...it is without a doubt the "closest to perfection" wood for a guitar body... I want a guitar for hard rock and metal with occasional blues usage. I want something that really has a growl or howl to it in the lows and mids but is not muddy. Something that is not too bright and twangy but also is not dead in the upper registers either, something that sings the high frequencies and will cut thru but does not make ur ears bleed. Despite all these flowery adjectives, it should be fairly balanced in response across the freqeuncy spectrum. Everything you describe is Alder...alder is used on guitars in every type of music with great success...fender strats...alder...jeff hanneman superstrat...alder.... A good dense piece of mahogany is also great,but not quite snappy enough,in my opinion,for blues.. I would use alder...only time I would shift to mahogany is if balance is an issue,say if the body is small and you want to make sure the weight counters the neck.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doeringer Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 Walnut, hard maple with an ebony fingerboard my be a little bright for what you say you want. Mahogany would be good with the maple and ebony and I'll agree with alder too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugg Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 I'd go with something light like alder or even poplar. How about a nice spankable knotty pine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttmonk Posted September 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 Thanks. Have now been considering some more options. Maybe solid maple neck, ebony board and black or white Korina wings. I too like alder but I will do a natural oil finish so I want a wood for the wings that is interesting. At some point I was considering swamp ash as an altenatvie to older, but I think I need the wing wood to balance the brightness of the board and neck like Doeringer said, so I guess that means something like Korina....or failing that then mahogony. Anyone know anything about the sound of Imbuya? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 Imbuia is on the endangered species list,so guitars made from them may become collesters items... Old joke...thanks to Mr. Litchfield...That's the problem with having a good memory...you remember even trivial things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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