govtmule Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 I'm curious what your main reason is for laminating neck blanks. Is it to fight wood movement by aligning grain orientation in opposite, or at least different, directions ? Or is it to promote strength by attempting to have the grain running as perpendicular as possible to the fretboard..."quartered". Seems as though Fender is okay with flat sawn slab necks so my guess is that it's more for stability but I'm curious why you may do it ? I have some 1" slabs of mahogany, wenge, and maple that I'd like to use for necks and looking at the grain direction I can rip more usable strips by just planning for opposing grain direction versus only using the quartered strips. Should I be shooting for mostly quartered ? Thanks, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 sounds like you have all the answers already, that is pretty much it. its stronger, more resistant to warping and it allows the use of a greater variety of wood for 1-piece necks i insist they are either flat sawn or quartersawn - i am not so bothered for multi-piece necks as long as they are balanced so i would be happy with (A) 'rift/quartered/opposite rift' where the end grain looks like this \\\\\lllll/////. but i would not be happy with ( 'rift/quartered/rift' where the end grain looks like this \\\\llll\\\\ to get from B to A you just need to flip one of those outer pieces around here is a real life example you can see maple and mahogany grain is symmetrical on each side - the wenge in the middle it flatsawn. So i have used rift sawn wood in a way that overcomes its issues. wood that would normally be useless for guitar necks has become usable again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted November 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 sounds like you have all the answers already, that is pretty much it. its stronger, more resistant to warping and it allows the use of a greater variety of wood for 1-piece necks i insist they are either flat sawn or quartersawn - i am not so bothered for multi-piece necks as long as they are balanced so i would be happy with (A) 'rift/quartered/opposite rift' where the end grain looks like this \\\\\lllll/////. but i would not be happy with ( 'rift/quartered/rift' where the end grain looks like this \\\\llll\\\\ to get from B to A you just need to flip one of those outer pieces around here is a real life example you can see maple and mahogany grain is symmetrical on each side - the wenge in the middle it flatsawn. So i have used rift sawn wood in a way that overcomes its issues. wood that would normally be useless for guitar necks has become usable again Awesome, thanks for the insight Wez ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmth Builder Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Laminated necks also look great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Laminated necks also look great This is the main reason I do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted November 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Laminated necks also look great This is the main reason I do it. I agree that it looks pretty cool. But I also see some people putting headstock faceplates and/or back straps on laminated necks. Covering up the laminations ? Some structural reason ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmth Builder Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 (edited) You can do it for looks ala alembic, http://www3.alembic.com/img/inst/14100_pegheadbackL.jpg But also a good reason to do it is so that you can scarf the headstock (and there for use a thinner neck), When you do the following type of scarf joint headstock, it leaves a visible glue line right across the headstock, By gluing veneer on both sides you hide that glue line and makes the whole headstock stronger. Edited November 21, 2011 by Neil Beith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
govtmule Posted November 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 You can do it for looks ala alembic, http://www3.alembic.com/img/inst/14100_pegheadbackL.jpg But also a good reason to do it is so that you can scarf the headstock (and there for use a thinner neck), When you do the following type of scarf joint headstock, it leaves a visible glue line right across the headstock, By gluing veneer on both sides you hide that glue line and makes the whole headstock stronger. Gotcha....thanks Neil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted November 22, 2011 Report Share Posted November 22, 2011 Because it is a good way to take highly figured wood and orientate the grain to be proper instead of buying "instrument grade" expensive blanks.. And because it is cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted November 22, 2011 Report Share Posted November 22, 2011 It allows me to use more readily available wood with less waste and still build a strong stable visually appealing neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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