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Laminated Neck Grain Orientation


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'Mornin

I normally just sit in the corner quietly and learn from you fellas who know what you're talking about but I can't find a definitive answer to this question (yeah, there's some good stuff to be found with our little friend, Search, but this answer evaded me) so I have to ask the first of what I can only assume will be a multitude of stoopid questions.

When laminating a neck, which way should the grain be oriented? Do I plane the laminates to thickness and cut to width like in A or plane the laminates to the laminate width and cut to neck thickness like in B? I'm pretty sure that I already know the answer to this one but being wrong is one of my more persistent character flaws.

school014.jpg

Is a scarf joint for the headstock still preferable on a laminated neck or is it ok to cut the headstock angle into the blank?

Great forum and I hope to contribute some useful stuf in the coming months.

Cheers

Buter

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i would be happy with either, flatsawn is good, quartersawn is good, laminating improves it either way

it also gives you the option of using wood thats neither quarter or flatsawn - as long as you can mirror it so the tension is balanced - like this

neckwood2.jpg

for skinny necks i do prefer it quartered but with a two way rod and dual CF bars its not such an issue

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Thanks Wez 'n Wes

Wez - Thanks for the pic, definately worth 1,000 words. Am I correct in saying on your latest build (I think) you cut the headstock and the neck as one piece instead of scarfing? I would have thought that a laminated neck wouldn't suffer from the short grain breakage problem but, again, wouldn't mind a bit of confirmation.

Cheers

Buter

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You'll still get short grain issued with a laminated neck because it is still unsupported end grain, but with a laminated neck the extra strength of the laminate helps a lot. I still like a scarfed joint, just for less wasted lumber.

and those short grain sections are in different places on each lamination, which is why i think its not an issue

waste is always a factor, if its a bass i can normally get a guitar neck from the offcut.

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