Basswood neck??

[spirit]

Having taken a recent liking to the Parker Fly, I investigated their website. Seems some of their necks are made of basswood. I was under the impression basswood is a softwood, and really not the kid of wood for making necks, so I guessed it had something to do with thei carbon fibre/epoxy coating thingy. Has anyone here made a neck out of basswood?

[krazyderek]

I was also intregued by this, so i tired it out on my crazy lines guitar. The 7 string bolt on neck is basswood with a 1/2" purple heart laminate in the middle i had to use threaded inserts to be able to bolt the neck on. So far i like it, although i haven't had time to sit down and put it thru it's passe's so i'm not going to officially recommend it, but with the right laminations you might be able to get it to work too. I think next time I try for an all basswood guitar, i'll make it neck thru though.

[toddler68]

I think Parker lays up some kind of carbon fiber and resin all over the back of some of their guitars - neck and all. Makes it strong as hell. If that's the case, you could probably use balsa if you wanted to.

[darren wilson]

I seem to recall reading an interview with Ken Parker where he said that basswood is strong enough to make a neck from, even without the carbon/glass fibre overlay. The problem is that it's a soft wood, so anything bolted or screwed into it that's taking any kind of tension may eventually work its way loose.

[frank falbo]

I knew a guy that made graphite instruments, and I think Ken is playing a little mind trick. Basically toddler68 is right. there could be balsa or anything in there because the neck is self supporting. Basswood has a tendency to bend over time, and I think it would be a bad choice for necks if left by itself. With a purpleheart or whatever laminate or graphite rods, it should be fine, like the Carvin Holdsworth neck made from alder. The mind game is that first, "the neck is wood" idea is a marketing tool. You have to say there's wood integrated under that shell or else you're selling plastic. But secondly, he knows that we want our guitars to feel a certain way when we play them. If the neck doesn't vibrate at all in our hands, or create any audible sound when played unplugged, we'll perceive it as cold and lifeless, rather than bright and responsive, which is what the Parker really is. If you load something like basswood in there, you'll have a little resonance. It won't necessarily make it to the pickups because the string vibration is governed by the graphite shell. But the player will feel more response from the instrument. The guy I knew tried a lot of things, and filling the neck with high density foam produced the same basic effect as basswood. Ken arguing that basswood is a valid neck wood but too soft for mounting is an attempt IMHO to validate the Parker to the simpleton rocker. If you want to use basswood, use it with a laminate or graphite, but not with the Parker as your inspiration. That guitar sounds like it does for reasons other than the basswood "filler" in the neck.