Ebony veneers in neck laminates?

[GuitarMaestro]

Hi!

I would look to inculde two stripes of ebony veneer in a laminated neck I am going to build. I wonder if it is common to use several shorter pieces of ebony veneer and do your best to hide the gap between two pieces or if it is possible to get stripes of veneer that are long enough for a neck.

Thanks in advance,

Marcel!

[westhemann]

i would not use shorter pieces....they should run the length of the neck

at my local store they have lengths up to about 4 feet....it just gets expensive...but one 2"by3" or so piece at the length of your desired neck would make ALOT of thin strips using a bandsaw and a surface planer

by the way i love that look...

[skibum5545]

Are there any places online that sell 1/4" x 1 3/4 or 2" laminates long enough for a neckthru bass?

[rhoads56]

try dyed wood rather than ebony. Easier to find, cheaper. You cant tell the difference for what you want.

[Myka Guitars]

GuitarMaestro, try Certainly Wood. They have every kind of veneer you could ever want including real ebony and dyed wood. I just purchased some of both and the pieces were 6"+ wide by at least 7 foot long. They also have a 1 piece minimum so you don't have to order that much at all.

[GuitarMaestro]

Thanks alot guys! That certainly woods page looks very good....thanks Myka!!!!

[skibum5545]

try dyed wood rather than ebony. Easier to find, cheaper. You cant tell the difference for what you want.

Alembic is always going on about the enhanced sustain of ebony laminates, and how the fundamental decays at the same rate as the 2nd harmonic, instead of a lot faster, so the note you play sustains, not just the harmonic... but I don't know if this is at all true for thin veneer laminates.

There is always a cool factor, however, about having all natural woods in your guitar, instead of painted or dyed woods. To me, it'd be worth the extra cost for REAL ebony.

[rhoads56]

There is always a cool factor, however, about having all natural woods in your guitar, instead of painted or dyed woods. To me, it'd be worth the extra cost for REAL ebony.

Ummm, yeah, i guess thats why PRS does so well!!

Your forgetting the fact that the ebony fibres get crushed and then bent/split, in the veneer making process.... but we wont let facts get in the way of a cool tone myth

[Drak]

I think there's a big difference between a laminate ( @ 1/16" or 1/8" or therabouts)

...and veneer. Veneer is like friggin' paper-thin, and if anything, would -rob- tone I would think, if anything at all. I can't believe anything as thin as paper could affect the tone at all really.

But a 1/8" laminate I could believe would have some impact.

But I don't really know, I'm just postulating...

[krazyderek]

if you're going to laminate a neck i say use some 1/4" peices of ebony and get some added strength for all your work instead of just some "cool" black lines...

[skibum5545]

Where can someone get ebony that thick, and in that length, though? I've never seen it except in Alembic necks, and I'm not about to call up Alembic and ask for access to their private stock, given their prices

[krazyderek]

Where can someone get ebony that thick, and in that length, though? I've never seen it except in Alembic necks, and I'm not about to call up Alembic and ask for access to their private stock, given their prices

most specialty wood stores in north america...

i got a 50" peice of 1x2 ebony for neck thru laminates for 66$ (50$US) localy

Ebay as fingerboard sized blanks of ebony all the time that just need to be resaw.