neck woods to avoid?

[asm]

ive got access to some 200+ year old aged redwood. super tight grain pattern ive never seen in redwood and very dark, almost black in some streaks.

think this is strong enough to hold up on a neck by itself? or would it be better to use the redwood as a laminate, or a stronger laminate around the redwood?

thx for any help!

t

[krazyderek]

what are the dimensions of the wood? why not just use it as a top then have a standard mahog or maple neck or what have you.... ??

if you want the neck to be redwood then yes laminating will help, ebony, purple heart, bubinga, wenge, etc are all good choices but compared to redwood they are all going to weight quite a bit.... also cut your redwood into stripes so you have like a 5 or so peice neck, you wana do this so that you can orient the grain in the best possible way (quartersawn) for just that extra little bit of strength

[asm]

sounds good.

im not a fan of redwood tops, of those ive seen at least.

i think the boards it's in are around 5" wide minimum and might be up to 8 or 9" ? havent inquired about the width yet.

[Drak]

Jeez, wood like that I would never use for a neck.

Redwood is very much like Spruce in texture and feel, you can put a thumbnail right into it, that wood is MADE to be an Archtop topper!

Or an acoustic top, whichever you prefer. Using it for a neck might work, but you'd be casting aside all of it's really strong attributes, i.e. it's TONE!

I would set it aside until you feel like building an Archtop or acoustic guitar, then whip it out. That's where it would really shine.