Geo Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 (edited) I pulled a lot of poplar out of a dorm that's being demolished. It's about 6 ft long, some pieces 2"x3/4" and some 3"x3/4" (though slab-sawn). I'm thinking of laminating it with maple (i.e. a simple poplar/maple/poplar laminate) for a neck. Any opinions? The maple is quartersawn of course. I would flip the poplar "on edge" so it would be effectively quartersawn relative to the quartersawn maple in the middle. Edited October 2, 2008 by Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Why not? If there are any stiffness issues with poplar for a neck, the maple would surely work towards counteracting it. It'd look pretty bland, but that can easily be covered with stain or paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Why not? If there are any stiffness issues with poplar for a neck, the maple would surely work towards counteracting it. It'd look pretty bland, but that can easily be covered with stain or paint. I think there's something in recent post maybe it's a few posts down with someone using poplar for a neck it was the first time I heard of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugg Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 I've made a neck from solid poplar and one 'hippie sandwich' with poplar and mahogany. The solid poplar neck is on a redwood/poplar solid body 'big apple strat', and the 'hippie sandwich' is a neckthrough Ebass. Both have CF reinforcing. The BAstrat has 3 1/8" CF rods like you get in the hobby shop placed as far to the three (cross section) corners of the neck as possible, and is stiffer than the neckthrough which has big CF 'beams' like the kind you get at stewmac, but placed more centrally to either side of the truss rod slot. I'm guessing that the solid poplar neck is stiffer because the rods, though smaller than the beams, are placed in a better way to increase stiffness. The BAstrat has incredible sustain and even response around the neck, which is counterintuitive since the whole axe weighs about 5 pounds. The poplar is great wood to work with and I'll be using it with every axe I make from now on. Poplar varies quite a bit in stiffness and weight, and of course it's important to align it 'quarter sawn', so it's nice to be able to pick through the stacks. I'm guessing it's a bit softer and lighter than mahogany, but many of the pieces I used for the 'hippie sandwich' bass were as stiff as the mahogany. It's just one of the many great woods out there that conservative luthiers are afraid to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmth Builder Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 From an aesthetics point of view, I would laminate it with a contrasting colour, like poplar / wenge / poplar or something if you really want the maple you could go poplar / ebony veneer / maple / ebony veneer / poplar I just dont like same colour woods lamed together, but thats just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 I have had several customers order poplar necks, and a couple of them over and over. There must be some reason for it I'd say. It''s not bad looking either if the right stock is chosen. -Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted October 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 From an aesthetics point of view, I would laminate it with a contrasting colour, like poplar / wenge / poplar or something Agreed... but from an economics point of view, I don't have anything else. If I do this, I may stain the neck blue or black (not sure of the exact color scheme yet) so I think the light woods together will be all right. Of course, poplar can be greenish, so the maple and poplar might come out very different shades of blue... perhaps black stain is safest... Anyway, I was mostly concerned about poplar's general qualification as a neck wood. It sounds like it makes a good neck. Thanks to those who answered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 I was mostly concerned about poplar's general qualification as a neck wood. 50's -60's necks on Danelectros = Poplar (although they had Brazilion Rosewood fret-boards on top of the poplar. How crazy does that sound these days ? Yeah, all the dumb-asses thought there was no end to how much BRW you could get. They even made shipping pallets out of BRW in South America.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted October 4, 2008 Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 Poplar stains really nicely. That is one of the cool things about poplar, it usually looks either pretty plain or pretty ugly natural, but through some stain on it and it really shows some life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugg Posted October 4, 2008 Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 soapbarstrat, that's too weird. I used BRW (old stash I've had for 30 years) on the FB of the BAstrat I made for my friend. We had a laugh, because the rest of the axe is poplar and redwood, both from HOdepo. BRW in FB sized chunks is around $250 last I checked, but the rest of the wood cost less than fifteen bucks. Never the less, they made a beautiful marriage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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