GuitarMaestro Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 I am planning to build my first neck laminated from several pieces of wood, as I want to use a very nice properly quatersawn piece of curly soft maple. I know that soft maple is not that stable, therefore I got a piece which is "very" quatersawn;) and was dried properly. The seller told me that many of his customers use this wood for guitar necks WITHOUT even using laminates and is convinced that it is stable and stiff enough for the job. As I don't want to see alot of work going to waste I decided to insert two stripes of Bubinga. I wonder how thick they should be in order to really make a difference. So far I plan to cut the neck blank in three pieces and to insert two 6mm Bubinga stripes. Is that enough or do they have to be thicker in order to make a difference? All necks I made so far were one-piece necks with a glued on fingerboard, so I don't have expirience here.... Any redommendations for the thickness of the stripes? P.s.: The neck will be used for a 7-string electric guitar with a hotrod style trussrod. Please don't tell me about reinforcing the neck with graphite rods, as I prefer the neck to be "wood only", except for the trussrod itself. Thanks in advance, Marcel Knapp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 i would use 3 pieces of one type of wood(maple?)at 3/4" strips and 2 pieces of another type between them(ebony?bocote?bubinga)at 3/8" a piece this will give you a 3" wide neck blank for your 7 string,will be very strong,and will look sharp and with all those laminates carbon rods would be overkill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 by the way i like the wood choices you have going on there......my wood choices were just out loud thoughts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 I used bubinga on a neck, but since it's going to be a super thin wizard, i played it safe and just wen with a 1" wide hunk of bubinga, the neck is completely quartersawn, hopefully the grain line will help the bubinga look a bit flashy and little less bulky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyunsu Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 hi.. i show your homepage... good.. i want to be you masterbuilder .. make your dream.. in need.. i envy you .. your perfect woking room.. and tools.. my woking room is too small T_T and i do not my woking in night.. bye... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 i think this shows you it can be done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkchirurg Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 would it make any difference if the three maple pieces weren't cut from the same blank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 yes and no, i beleive what you mean is weather or not you reversed or mirroed the grain lines on the 2 or 3 peices of wood, if so then yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 I actually laughed aloud when I read your post. I'm actually in the process of making a neck of the same woods (sorta). Its a 5 pc, birdseye maple/bubinga/soft curly maple/bubinga/birdsey maple. I used two 3/4" birdseye maple pieces for the outers, then the bubinga pieces are each 1/4" and the curly maple is also a 1/4". It has a pretty good balance on it so far, and it looks sharp. The total neck width would be 2.75" Big enough for a 5 string bass neck...i dunno if thats the right size for 7 string guitar? Heres a pic: The upper portion I haven't finished thicknessing yet, which is why it looks kind of crooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 Thank you very much for all your help. I'll let you know how it turned out, as soon as I have the neck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 @Derek: Do I see it correctly, that you have inserted a center bubinga piece in your neck that gets smaller towards the peghead? If yes I wonder how you did that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 nope, it's the same peice of wood, i was able to get a peice of bubinga that had the sap wood and the hardwood from the tree, the white is the inside of the tree where the cellls are dead, and dried out, the red part is the outer layers of "rings" of a tree that were still alive when the tree was cut down, even after being dried for 3 years, there's always going to be a colour difference between the 2 parts of the wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 Thanks....that differently colored bubinga looks really nice....post pictures if you are done with the neck please.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted February 3, 2004 Report Share Posted February 3, 2004 how do you post the pictures anyway? just asking, because i want to post some pictures... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2004 how do you post the pictures anyway? just asking, because i want to post some pictures... The forum does not allow uploading of images. You can only link ti images which are hosted somewhere else. That means you have to uploead the pictures somewhere else and then you link to them in this board. There are many free hosters so don't waste money for uploeading the pics somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingo328 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Wow Wes that guitar is gorgeous. I love the way that lam neck looks, espesially the accent piece up by the scarf joint. If you dont mind me asking did you glue that piece onto the seperate headstock piece and the glue the entire thing onto the neck. Also is that piece kind of wedge shaped getting smaller towards the FB or does it just look that way once the profile is shaped. The only problem with that guitar is that it's not left-handed, I couldn't play it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 that is not my guitar....that was made by abyss guitars...they make gorgeous instruments...it will be a while before i attempt something like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_urr_A Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Since I think the original question has been answered, and this is related to the orig. q, I'll ask here instead of in a new thread. Ebony is said to be a hard wood (not hardwood but *hard* wood), right? Could it be used for a full neck? If so, has anyone seen such a thing? Or is it just too pricy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I have never seen one. It would be a real bitch to shape the neck, I can tell you that for sure. I'd be interested to see one if anyone knows of a link or pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Warmoth.com has at the bottom of all their neck pages "contact for price and availability of solid ebony necks." I dunno if anyone has actually bought one tho... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 well it wouldn't need a finish...might be cool...about $200 or more for just the wood though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 a local luthier here is about to make an all ebony neck for a customer, i'll try and take some pics for ya guys and get some pricing on it... one thing nobody menchaned though was that an all ebony neck would weight about twice as much as a regular neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbkim Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 a local luthier here is about to make an all ebony neck for a customer, i'll try and take some pics for ya guys and get some pricing on it... one thing nobody menchaned though was that an all ebony neck would weight about twice as much as a regular neck. That sounds cool! Yeah, it'd be heavier... maybe not twice as heavy though. About 27 to 48% heavier (vs. maple) by the numbers on this site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_urr_A Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 That'd be cool Derek! Must look kinda intersting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotass Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 wait do you laminate wood and THEN cut the neck out or cut the neck out thin and then laminate pieces on top of that etc and then fretboard ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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