woods for thru neck 5 str bass

[diehardcrew]

I'd like to do a 5 string neck-through bass and am planning out which woods to use for the neck. I was thinking of a 5-piece laminant neck. 3 slices of maple (outer & middle) with 2 stripes of a darker wood for contrast. I'm not sure which woods would work well w/ maple that are stable enough for a neck. I'm not TOO worried about weight because I think I can compensate for that later w/ the body or what not, and I plan on keep the "dark stripes" fairly thin, like 3/8" each or something.

I was thinking of either: purpleheart, wenge, merbau, bubinga or ovankgol (or whatever you want to call it) and I'm having trouble deciding. I like how all of them look, and understand them to all be fairly hard.

Anyone have suggestions that have maybe used these types of woods, or even suggestions on how many laminants is too many (is there such a thing?). In the future I hope to do like a 9-piece neck, unless that's just plain stupid, I think it would look cool.

Thanks!

[MKGBass]

I would use wenge, I love wenge. I love the tone and feel of it.

To a certain extent you can do however many laminates you want. I think I saw and alembic with a nine piece neck. I think most of their necks are 7 pc.

Here you go. 11 pieces. Hope that tells ya

[diehardcrew]

Oh great, after seeing that Alembic, now I have to change my pants!!!

Thanks for your input!

[canuckguitarist]

Be careful though. I believe wenge is toxic?

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

Go purpleheart. Stable, pretty and cheap. Not to mention easy on the lungs.

[Scott Rosenberger]

Not to mention easy on the lungs.

[mom mode] You should be wearing your respirator [/mom mode]

[westhemann]

i think i am going to get some of those cheese grater looking things for my drum sander and some sureforms and such...anything that makes large pieces instead of dust out of the wood

gotta be better for your lungs that way

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

I still wear the dust mask.

[skibum5545]

Have you considered walnut? Inexpensive, and looks really nice with maple!

Other than that, I'd go with purpleheart, or if money is no object, even ebony.

[StreamLine]

walnut - inexpensive?

anything but, in my experience.

[westhemann]

walnut is about $8 a bf....pretty similar to honduras mahogany...i consider it inexpensive as you can make an entire guitar from it for about $40 to $50(for the wood)

[Page_Master]

i say wenge, bubinga, padouk or purpleheart. any 4 of these in a laminate will give you a nice solid and stiff neck. choose the one you think looks and feels the best to you.

my personal favourite is bubinga. i love it so much, i have bought enough bubinga to build six necks.