_FR0D0 Posted March 3, 2003 Report Posted March 3, 2003 Hi, in my guitar project I'm in the process of starting my neck building and had here some woods I think I can use for it, They are Peltogyne Spp. (Nazareno / Purpleheart) and Quebracho or Algarrobo (Lysiloma divaricatum) Both are very hard an beautifull woods Are the good for neckbuilding? are they too hard? Quote
Brian Posted March 3, 2003 Report Posted March 3, 2003 Well I have seen necks built out of aircraft grade aluminum, thats pretty hard I think the purple heart may be even harder that that stuff though from what I have been told (never experianced it personally). Quote
_FR0D0 Posted March 3, 2003 Author Report Posted March 3, 2003 but the question is, Can I use it for building a neck? Purpleheart is the second hardest comertial wood in my country, been Quebracho the hardest. We have a wood we call Vera, thar is the hardest wood we have, but it's so hard that is almost imposible to work with Quote
Dave M Posted March 7, 2003 Report Posted March 7, 2003 I have seen purpleheart necks before, so I know it can be done. I even saw one with a flatsawn purpleheart fretboard, on a Quartersawn purpleheart neck. I got to play that one, and it felt really nice. A bit thinner than I like my necks, but it had a great feel. I might try using it for my next project, but currently, I have no experience with it. Quote
DStahl Posted March 8, 2003 Report Posted March 8, 2003 Purpleheart is a great wood for necks, especially for laminated necks. I've heard, second-hand, that it may give a "bright" trebly-sounding guitar. There is some variation between species within the genus (I'm sure you know more about them than I do) but the purpleheart I've worked is great. It can be hard to work with hand tools. It is slow work to sand it down if you have a fair amount of wood to remove. It takes glue well and seems very stable. Some people have used it for fretboards. Take your time routing it and remove only a little wood at each pass of the router. As you may know, the wood often turns brown as it is sanded and then in a few days the surface regains its beautiful violet color. Beautiful stuff! I've got a purpleheart-maple-purpleheart laminated neck glued up to make a bolt-on (looks good so far, staying nice and straight) and I put a big block of purpleheart down the center of the body of another guitar. I know nothing about the other wood you mentioned, though. Quote
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