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A Neck Wood Question


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The build in question is a solid body tele with a 2 piece ash body. The guitar will be dyed transparent black and will likely have at least one, if not two P90's.

The fingerboard will be ebony, the blackest I can find(likely no inlay as well).

I'll be looking to complete the trio with a black neck. It will likely be a pretty thick C shaped neck(maybe 1"). My two considerations currently are to dye maple black and gloss it or use wenge. I understand that maple is going to be a good bit brighter than the wenge. I'd be curious as to how each of these would pair with an ash body and ebony fretboard? I've heard Wenge goes quite well tonally with ebony. I've never played a Wenge neck and am wondering how it compares in feel and playability to say...Padauk(I have a guitar with a Padauk neck).

I do have a few concerns about wenge though...

1)I'm worried it might not be dark enough. I don't want a chocolate brown neck, I want black. I've heard Wenge does not take finish well due to the oil content and I wouldn't be able to darken it any.

2)I'm worried about weight and neck dive. I'm shooting for just north of a 4 pound body(maybe 4.3-4.5). Will I be alright or will I need more weight in the body to balance a thick Wenge neck?

Also, are there any other woods worth considering with this setup/combo?

Thanks!

PS-Sorry for all the newbie questions. I searched and didn't come up with much but I'm sure this has been covered...

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Check out the fingerboard dye that Stu-Mac sells. It's BLACK. It soaks in well. I used it on a ebony fingerboard that was brown and orange it was jet black. If you use it on maple, don't sand to 1000 grit then use it, put it on when you have sanded to 220 or 320, let it soak in and then finish sand. It will soak in deep enough you can finish sand with fine grits. It's marked as leather dye on the bottle. You know those black belts you buy, they don't start out black... This stuff works.

Once dry it doesn't come off on my fingers, even on the fingerboards.

A little goes a LONG way. You could probably do an entire guitar with one bottle. I did a fingerboard and a 4 ft by 4 ft picture frame that is 4 inches wide inside and out and I still have 1/2 of a bottle.

-John

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wenge makes nice necks... a bit stiffer than paduak but otherwise quite comparable

do it with a coat of fretboard stain as suggested and it will be plenty black - that stuff works fine on wenge. then maybe just a light coat of danish oil

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