kench Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 Hello everyone I am living in Istanbul, Turkey. I had built a LP guitar back in 2005 using woods from local timber shops (sapele body and neck). The guitar turned out great (even better than some Gibson I handed). Now I want to build a custom bolt-on guitar. Finding tone woods in Turkey is not a problem, but it is hard to find hard rock maple for the neck. Because there are lots of maple here but the sellers don't usually deal with luthiers, and they don't know much about woods they supply. I don't want to end-up with a soft maple, so I will probably buy a neck blank from US. You guys probably have your own favorite wood supplier over there, but I believe StewMac and Warmoth are the only ones who send worldwide. Probably there is no scientific or certain answer to this question, but which of the two are better quality? I'm sure there are people here who used them both on their guitars. StewMac blank: 27" x 4" x 0,8125" 20.50 USD Warmoth Blank: 27" x 4" x 0,75" 15.00 USD If there are better sellers who deals worldwide, I would like to know them too. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 Honestly, Soft maple (the species) Is a perfectly good wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 I've used "Soft" maple (Silver Leaf) and also Birch. Both will make very good necks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Like the boys said, You dont really need rock maple. Some of the best looking & playing necks I have ever made were with flat sawn soft maple species. its plenty strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 Food for thought. Mahogany is a VERY common neck wood. Has a janka hardness of around 800. "Soft" maple has a hardness of 8-900 depending on species, but similar in strength to mahogany. What I would say, stay away from super figured soft maple for necks though, as figuring weakens wood, and the more figure, the weaker it gets. This is ESPECIALLY true with birdseye figuring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 7, 2013 Report Share Posted September 7, 2013 Almost all of the violin family uses "soft" maple. This includes the upright bass which is under a lot more tension than a guitar. I would rather buy a piece of wood that I can look at than mail order any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kench Posted September 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2013 Warmoth asks $60.00 for just shipping anyway. So I decided to get the woods locally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 Any particular reason you are gunning for maple? Your location is pretty prime for european, african, and asian hardwoods! Balau, Wenge, A neck made of iroko would be astounding haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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