Neck Wood Combinations?

[Mors Phagist]

If I were to make a neck to counter a maple body, what should I make it out of? Maple is bright, but Ive heard it lacks in the lows (which is pretty important to my style), so to make up for that short coming, what comination of woods (if Any) in the neck should I use to "Counteract" the maple body?

Im guessing Birdseye and Walnut to counter the weight of the Maple, but any help is appreciated. If this matters, I was planning on making a 7 string neck, so that would add some mass to a regular neck.

Ideas?

[Metalhead28]

I don't see how birdseye maple and walnut would get you where you want to be.

What about mahogany? I've never done that combo, only the opposite - but I'm just adding that to your list of consideration.

Why the maple body? Are you already commited to that?

[ihocky2]

Maple in the neck, other than a veneer or one thin strip, is going to limit the lows you are trying to build in. A maple body is going to be pretty bright sounding typically, but not always. Walnut is going to have a bright sound as well, but not the piercing highs of maple. If I was trying to counteract the maple I would go with a mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. Ebony is still going to be bright sounding.

[westhemann]

Look..the body can never throw the guitar out of balance by being too heavy...only too light.

Make the body as heavy as you want,it is never going to cause the neck to raise up and hit you or anything weird like that...as long as it is heavy enough to counter the neck,it is going to stay exactly where you put it.This is because you put the straps on both ends of the body,and the neck is out of the equation until it gets heavy enough to put the leverage against the body.

If such was not the case,I would get a black eye every time I played my Bubinga explorer,and yet here I sit...no black eyes.

To the other question,I agree with the mahogany neck,but never again will I make a guitar with a solid maple body.It just is not a pleasing tone to me.

[Mors Phagist]

Look..the body can never throw the guitar out of balance by being too heavy...only too light.

Make the body as heavy as you want,it is never going to cause the neck to raise up and hit you or anything weird like that...as long as it is heavy enough to counter the neck,it is going to stay exactly where you put it.This is because you put the straps on both ends of the body,and the neck is out of the equation until it gets heavy enough to put the leverage against the body.

If such was not the case,I would get a black eye every time I played my Bubinga explorer,and yet here I sit...no black eyes.

To the other question,I agree with the mahogany neck,but never again will I make a guitar with a solid maple body.It just is not a pleasing tone to me.

Weight isn't the issue, I just feel that The maple body I have prepared would have tonalities that I don't really want, as you said. Weight is no option, its just the sound.

[westhemann]

Im guessing Birdseye and Walnut to counter the weight of the Maple

This is what I was commenting on.

May I ask why you want a maple body?it just makes such a harsh sound..it does cut through the mix in a band situation,but so does alder...and maple is so hard to shape on a body with the cutaways.

[pauliemc]

Loose the maple body I say. Or at least core it out & put a top on it. Big chambers might help with the ultra bright tone thing.

Is it hard maple ? or soft. There are different types & not all are as sharp sounding.

But id go wint the mahogany neck, rosewood board & a bone nut if possible.

Are you using a trem ? floyds & other knife edge pivoted trems have a tendancy to brighten a sound, So if you are planing a trem then definitly look into a different body material.

Give us the full spec you are proposing & you will get better answers, better direction. What kind of sound do you want aswell ?

[Bionic Dave]

Loose the maple body I say. Or at least core it out & put a top on it. Big chambers might help with the ultra bright tone thing.

Is it hard maple ? or soft. There are different types & not all are as sharp sounding.

But id go wint the mahogany neck, rosewood board & a bone nut if possible.

Are you using a trem ? floyds & other knife edge pivoted trems have a tendancy to brighten a sound, So if you are planing a trem then definitly look into a different body material.

Give us the full spec you are proposing & you will get better answers, better direction. What kind of sound do you want aswell ?

+1 on that chamber the body to lose weight and brightness. And a mahogany neck is the way to go, for a fingerboard Rosewood or Ebony.

But if it was me I'd use the maple as a top and go with a Mahogany body + neck.

my 2 cents and these days 2 cents Canadian is about 1 US dollar. lol

[Mors Phagist]

May I ask why you want a maple body?it just makes such a harsh sound..it does cut through the mix in a band situation,but so does alder...and maple is so hard to shape on a body with the cutaways.

Im trying to Utilize materials openly available to me, and experiment with various wood types before moving onto more expensive woods. I sort of knew that making a neck out of a counter material than the body won't work as well as I want it to, but you never know until you try or ask.

I had already spent $8 on a piece of maple, and want to try something with it. Its useless for making necks, so why not try a body? If anything, Id give it to someone and tell them to practice on it, as it would probably less crappy than any other guitar they may have... Lulz, just give it to them and ask for $8 bucks...

[Quarter]

I generally like maple bodys and the brightness of maple can vary from piece tp piece or species to species. A lot can be done to tame the beast with good pickup and electronics selections too.

[Crusader]

Another thing to consider is the thickness of the body, which goes along the same lines as chambering...etc... meaning a thicker body would have more affect on the sound, a thinner body less

Also it has been my experience that the neck and fretboard material has a lot to do with the "initial attack" and when you think about it, most of the time that is all you hear in guitar-playing

All the guitars I made have a 1-piece Maple neck and it dominates the sound, which sometimes I like...however...

To cut a long story short I am in favour of the Mahogany neck with a Rosewood fretboard...or can you make a whole neck out of Rosewood?

I'm pretty sure that would be the best bet to counter-act the bright Maple body

2c

[Mors Phagist]

To cut a long story short I am in favour of the Mahogany neck with a Rosewood fretboard...or can you make a whole neck out of Rosewood?

Yeah, you can make a whole Neck out of Rosewood. I was just talking about this yesterday with a Harp Maker, and I was like "Hmm, what do I want, Half a dozen fretboards, or a Neck..."

But Ive decided to do what I can, with the piece I have.

So, thinner body rather than chambering? How thin would you suggest? I was planning on making it 1 3/4 inches, which is the thickness of a Strat body, and is fairly comfortable. The shape in mind is basically a strat shape thats been Metalized, so its slightly wider than a regular strat.

I also have a neck lay out for a 27 fret 7 string...

But it wouldn't be on the Maple body, and I would probably apply the VbelowV to that Neck.

And I was wondering if there were any benefits of using a Butternut (White Walnut) and Hard (Birdseye) Maple neck? Would this give me any more attack (Ive been trying to find better attack for ages, various pick types, picking styles, and if I can get more attack/clarity out of this, Id be willing to do whatever. And yes, Attack is also in your technique [iMHO, mine is quite good], but any outside factor that I could change to improve it would be awesome).

Sorry for the long post, but thanks guys. The maple body question is pretty much answered, and Ill see what I can do with it.

[avengers63]

And I was wondering if there were any benefits of using a Butternut (White Walnut) and Hard (Birdseye) Maple neck?

Assuming that butternut (white walnut) has the same sonic characteristics as regular walnut....

Butternut with a maple neck would be pretty bright, but with the extreme highs peeled off a bit.

There's NOTHING wrong with a maple body. You already know that it'll be pretty bright, and that's great if that's what you want. If you want the whole thing really bright, go ahead with the maple neck. If you want it balanced out, go with a mahogany neck. Honestly, that's really the bottom line.

[low end fuzz]

May I ask why you want a maple body?it just makes such a harsh sound..it does cut through the mix in a band situation,but so does alder...and maple is so hard to shape on a body with the cutaways.

Im trying to Utilize materials openly available to me, and experiment with various wood types before moving onto more expensive woods. I sort of knew that making a neck out of a counter material than the body won't work as well as I want it to, but you never know until you try or ask.

I had already spent $8 on a piece of maple, and want to try something with it. Its useless for making necks, so why not try a body? If anything, Id give it to someone and tell them to practice on it, as it would probably less crappy than any other guitar they may have... Lulz, just give it to them and ask for $8 bucks...

my problem with this thinking is; your starting a project that your disapointed with before the first cut; and maple gives (some) people a hard time i.e. splitting and router burns that just dont happen with other wood; i understand where your comin from with the 'it cost me $8' and its good to make the most of whats at your disposal; but after all this, to get it working on bare minimum china grade hardware your lookin at at least $100; and i think thats generously low.

personally if you want a great learning project glue together a couple a thick plywood pieces and paint it solid colour; you'll get the shaping practice on an easy substrate aswell as routing ;making templates; and great practice on smoothing and finishing for about $6;

and you'll still have the maple; which if it were me (unless its figured; doesnt sound it) i'd use it for body laminates (always good to have extra for thickness build up) on future builds..............my 2 cents

[westhemann]

I would have it ripped into 3/4" thick pieces and use it for caps on mahogany backs..for that LP studio tone.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Your idea of butternut I would say to toss, it's not hard and like I told you earlier today on the phone it makes good canoe paddles since it's so light and not dense. Personally I like maple bodies for your type of music, I like the brightness of it when I mix it with my pedal board since I can get a nice clarity on the notes but use my pedals to get the lowness you need (I use a digitech grunge for distortion).

I have a cousin in Finland who just made a neckthrough that was completely maple and he plays stuff like Ozzy and that type so there is your option there. Have you looked into using Oak at all? I know a guy who uses red oak on acoustics for the back and sides and then uses a Norwegien Pine soundbaord, that combo has a pretty good high and low reponse which you might like as well.

As to using rosewood I would highly not recomend it. In my experience and in the above mentioned luthier we both don't like it. It is very unstable, meaning it does not handle temperature changes like we get in Minnesota well. It will twist and warp easily unless you can build it and finish it in the same tempurature and humidity. And for fretboards try to find a way to seal it because the frets will move like with any wood but it seems that with rosewood it's the worst.

I use birch quite a bit as well and I like the result I can get from it, plus I'm sure you can get a lot over where you live. All in all I would say just test things out and see what you like and if you don't like it sell it and start over it's as simple as that.