bob123 Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 Lot of people dig the one piece neck idea, but the lack of stability kind of concerns me. I was wondering, if it would be prudent to take a solid piece of wood (flame maple?), split the wood directly in half, flip one side (think chevron flame maple), and glue it together. Wood glued together is stronger then the original piece, and it should provide some added stability. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 Thats how it's most often done... Many other people, myself included that want even more guaranteed stability will cut into 3 pieces and turn the middle one around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 +1 The added bonus is that you get to use cheap, rift sawn wood. If I have a good piece of quartersawn or flat sawn wood, I'll generally leave them alone. There are a lot of ways to strengthen a neck. But there's nothing wrong with the "rip and flip" method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted February 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 Thanks guys. I had no idea this was such an "industry standard" lol. I always thought the 3 peice necks were ways to cut costs and use smaller pieces of wood. If I had the capacity to do so, I would make necks like ernie ball does (wouldnt we all? ). They use the same peice of wood to make the neck AND the fret board. Really cool idea, wish more companies went that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 You could do that if you really wanted to. This is from the Ernie Ball website: Q: How is the trussrod inserted into a maple neck? Is it one piece of wood? A: When we make a solid maple neck, the neck is cut horizontally lengthwise, routed for the trussrod, the trussrod is inserted. Then the neck is carefully glued back together so it is barely detectable that it was ever apart. As for three piece necks, they can cut costs, but they also add stability, and give you racing stripes. When Fender started making electric guitars, they were TERRIBLY cost conscious. Their solution was not to make laminate necks, but to make the entire neck out of one piece of wood. But instead of ripping it in half like EB, they just route a channel down the back and plugged it up later. It was a cost cutting solution, but has since become iconic. A lot of people think that you're going to get better tone and sustain out of a single piece of wood. I don't happen to be one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 26, 2012 Report Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'm quite the tone sceptic on that one also, David. Stability is far more quantifiable than faith in "single piece tone". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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