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Posted

Hi!

I have a very nice curly maple one-piece neck-through guitar neck blank, which was very hard to find and very expensive. I did this because I wanted to build a neck without any laminations(except for the fingerboard which will be Rosewood).

In the last days I was getting more and more doubts if the wood will be stable/stiff enough without inserting a Wenge or Bubinga center piece. Is there any way to tell if this is needed or not?

Thanks in advance,

Marcel Knapp!

Posted
well if its nice dont butcher it and put laminates in the middle. just put some carbon steel rods in there on either sides of the truss rod. No worries! ;-)

Carbon steel? Did you mean Carbon Fiber? I think westhemann mentioned he used these in his carved top's neck. If you do use these read the precautions. The idea of those splinters getting stabbed into my heart scares the crap out of me :D.

Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars
Posted

As long as its flame isf fine. Quilted maple is not good for necks.

Matbe this should be pinned. It has become a FAQ.

Posted
i think you can use carbon steel too. i would never use carbon fiber...... just the idea of breathing that in is quite frighening

You don`t want just carbon steel rod.It weighs a ton and bends very easily.Carbon steel rod is just plain steel rod in most cases.It will bend which is why long long ago...they used square stock.Adjustable truss rods are carbon steel,but the threaded tension makes them stronger.

It is carbon fiber you would want,it is already cut to length so you don`t have to worry about splinters.It is very rigid .

Posted

carbon fibre is great.wear gloves if you are worried.but the main thing is just buy the right length.i think they suggest a hacksaw if you must cut it

by the way it is much more rigid than steel,per weight

Posted

Birdseye Maple comes from Eastern Hardrock Maple trees, found up and down the East Coast region.

Quilted Maple usually comes from Western Big Leaf Maple, usually found in the Pacific Northwest sector.

Two different trees, two different densities, hardnesses, etc.

Just two different woods really.

I have several highly figured (upcharged) Birdseye Maple necks (Warmoth). They've remained very stable and I love them very much. :D

Posted

Thanks for your answers guys. Several things:

1. The maple I have is curly flame maple. It has NO birdseyes and is NOT quilted, but I dont know if it is Eastern or Western maple. It was sold to me as hard maple however. Is there any way to tell what kind of maple it is?

2. I dont understand your panic concerning the carbon fibre rods....I have several of them here and to me they seem very rigid and stable and it would not be easy to rip single fibres from them. And as long as you sometimes smoke, there is no reason to not sometimes inhalate some carbon fibres....:D

Greets,

Marcel Knapp!

Posted

Okay....I asked the shop I got the neck blank from and they told me that it is Western Bigleaf Maple, which they say is not as hard as Eastern maple but still very tough. The piece I have is quatersawn. Do you think I should go with carbon fibre rods or with a Wenge center piece or use the blank as it is?

Thanks in advance,

Marcel Knapp!

Posted

From what I have read, Western Big Leaf is considered "Soft Maple". Soft Maple can be used to build guitars but I have not personally seen it used for a neck.

This is only a guess - but I would think that it would be OK to use since woods like mahagony are suitable for a neck. If it were me, I would rather put some insurance in there in the form of rods or a laminate. I like laminated necks so that would probably be the way I would go.

Good luck. By the way - do you have any pics?

Posted
Do you think I should go with carbon fibre rods or with a Wenge center piece or use the blank as it is?

I would stick someform of rienforcement in a Western Maple neck, maybe the carbon fibre rods INSIDE the neck, so you can keep the look of the flamed Maple.

Posted

I found some Western maple boards that were quite pretty and cheap. I bought them knowing they were not real strong (and some look a little unstable) , thinking I'd figure something out. Right now my plan is to make a laminated neck or two from them with a center section from a harder wood and even then add CF bars. If your wood is fairly straight/dense, I'd go with just the carbon fibre reinforcement.

Or maybe I'll save them for a lam body... just can't pass up cheap figured wood...

Let us know how it turns out.

Posted
Do you think it would be enough to put a 12mm wide piece of Wenge in the center of the neck?

My vote would be yes. Also - you don't need to have a laminated body for a laminated neck (I think someone was suggesting you save it for a laminated body?) - they look great on any body just as long as you don't use weird colors that don't match well. How about pics of that wood? I love looking at figured maple. It's kinda like wood-porn for me! B):D

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