Warping Wood In Laminate Neck

[IPA or death]

I'm going to make a 3 piece laminated neck, maple/walnut/maple with two carbon rods and a hot rod truss rod in it. The walnut is nice and flat but the maple is bowed a bit. Would the maple even itself out if it were placed on either side of the walnut with the bow in opposite directions? And would the CF rods keep it from being a problem in the future? Or would it be a better idea to weigh down the middle of the maple board and get it straight first? The maple is just under an inch thick now and will need to be planed down to 5/8".

Thanks for your advice.

[Helldunkel]

Laminated necks do warp, it can be much worse then with a one piece neck, in fact the reinforcement CF fiber rods have nothing to do with the stability of the neck horizontally (from bass to treble string) but only vertically (from the headstock to the 24th fret).

What makes a stable neck and no matter which specie you are using, laminated or not is the fact that it should be properly seasoned and ideally perfectly quatersawn.

Before using the wood, have you measured its internal moisture content? Also which is the ambient athmosphere of your workshop?

Dont forget that walnut will also have a different expension and contraction point then the maple which means that if both woods are not properly seasoned you will eventually see one of them starting to move giving the impression of a low or high spot on the neck.

Matching up woods thinking that the maple (or vis versa) will go to war when the walnut starts to move to try and fight back against it is hilarious (unfortunatelly this is how MANY people think)

Matching up laminats together and adding CF rods will not help at all the stability of a neck if you dont follow the rules of seasoning and controlling the athmosphere - simple as that

Hope this helps

[Our Souls inc.]

.......What makes a stable neck and no matter which specie you are using, laminated or not is the fact that it should be properly seasoned and ideally perfectly quatersawn.

Tell that to Fender, a company that has used millions of flatsawn boards for necks over the years.

To the OP - If the walnut is straight and you put the maple in opposite directions, it will have the least potential for future movement.

Two CF rods will make the neck harder to adjust so consider that efect too.

[RestorationAD]

I'm going to make a 3 piece laminated neck, maple/walnut/maple with two carbon rods and a hot rod truss rod in it. The walnut is nice and flat but the maple is bowed a bit. Would the maple even itself out if it were placed on either side of the walnut with the bow in opposite directions? And would the CF rods keep it from being a problem in the future? Or would it be a better idea to weigh down the middle of the maple board and get it straight first? The maple is just under an inch thick now and will need to be planed down to 5/8".

Thanks for your advice.

+1 Huf

If I was in that situation an needed to use it I would slice the maple up thin (under 1/16") and rely on straighter wood for the bulk of the neck.

Ask yourself "What is my time worth?" Is it worth more than the cost of a straight piece of wood? Probably.... set the maple aside and go get a straight well seasoned piece.

[guitar2005]

.......What makes a stable neck and no matter which specie you are using, laminated or not is the fact that it should be properly seasoned and ideally perfectly quatersawn.

Tell that to Fender, a company that has used millions of flatsawn boards for necks over the years.

To the OP - If the walnut is straight and you put the maple in opposite directions, it will have the least potential for future movement.

Two CF rods will make the neck harder to adjust so consider that efect too.

Totally agree but do ensure that each piece in the lamination is flat and properly seasoned to your workshop.

[IPA or death]

To clarify what I was saying about how the wood would be aligned, imagine the )( are maple and the I is the walnut. What if you put them together like so (I) and clamped?

I don't have a problem using another neck wood if this will end up being a problem. And I know I'll get killed for this but...I was keeping the wood on my carport outside, leaning up against a wall . Should have stored it flat on the floor of the garage.

Thanks for the input guys.

[kpcrash]

I am no expert but I will say this - we have yet to completely, confidently overcome mother nature. You can glue the hell out of that bow, clamp it to within an inch of its life and bake it in an oven with 200 lbs of steel on top and guess what? It could still move. (ask me how I know )There are always exceptions, but it's usually cheaper to just buy another stick.

[IPA or death]

Yeah, I completely understand Crash. I've got some weight on the piece now and I'm just going to let it dry to use for a future build. I did use some for the top of a sandwich body and it worked fine but necks are a different story.