Wood sellection..Mahogany or Walnut

[Andreas]

Im thinking which wood to put in the body area of a neckthrough guitar...mahogany or walnut?

The neck I will do it a three piece laminate and im thinking of putting in the center walnut and in the sides cherry. I dont know if this is going to make the guitar look very dark. So im thinking of putting oak for neck center and walnut for the sides.

What do you suggest with the compination of Walnut, Cherry, Mahogany and Oak.

(Im not sure if I can find maple.)

[Dr. Jabsco]

I wouldnt use oak. Cherry and Walnut would look great, infact my uncle just got a new cherry dobro, and it looks and sounds amazing.

you could even do cherry in middle and walnut wings.

[Curtis P]

cherry is extremly nice to work with,

easy to sand, fairly easy to route, has a nice grain and it sounds good

mahogany i havnet worked with, but ash is also nice to work with, bit harder to sand i found

Curtis

[Dr. Jabsco]

ooh cherry is easy to work with... I thought it was hard.

that gives me many ideas *thanks curtis*

[Curtis P]

it is hard, but i found it to be easy to work with,

no problem Dylan

Curtis

[darren wilson]

Walnut is also beautiful to work. It's fairly hard and dense, but that just means you can't screw it up as fast as you can with a softer wood. It takes an oil finish really nicely as well.

[skibum5545]

Walnut and cherry are a DREAM to work: they cut cleanly, finish nicely, and GOD, do they hold an edge! If cherry has a good tone (I haven't used it for a guitar) then that would be my suggestion. However, I'm wondering how cherry and walnut will look right next to each other. I would consider adding accent veneer laminates between the pieces (a light colored wood, preferably) to help give it a little bit of neatnesss.

Good luck!

[Andreas]

However, I'm wondering how cherry and walnut will look right next to each other. I would consider adding accent veneer laminates between the pieces (a light colored wood, preferably) to help give it a little bit of neatnesss.

Good luck!

Yes that was what I was thinking so thats why I included oak which is a lighter in color wood.

The only reason I would like to have mahogany in it is for "tradition" as it is used in gibson guitars.

I love tho the look of the neck having a mixture of woods so I let me tell you what I think:

Neck :

|cherry|lighter color wood thin veneer|walnut|lighter color wood veneer|cherry|

Body : A light color wood thicker venner joining the neck to the body wings.

The body wings would be mahogany and walnut top. Altho im conserned of using 4 (6 including the veneers) pieces for body.

Tell me what you think so far.

PS: For light color wood I think maple would be great but I dont know under what name to ask for it around here. You see my main language is greek and the name here for maple I think it is "sfentamnos". When I asked my uncle who is an expierenced carpender his answer seemed like maple is an underrated wood. For those who know is maple not used in carpentry?

[litchfield]

I dont knoe why he says maple is underrated. Cabint companies use maple a ton. Maple furniture is pretty big out here too. But then I'm talkin Idaho/Washington, Maple Capitol of the world

[Andreas]

Maybe he spoke underrated about it for it`s highly frequency of use. Most probably my uncle thought that you need very rare and extra special wood to make guitars. Ill see what I can do when I speak to him. For now im making the plans yet. I took a huge cardboard and im drawing everything life size.

Finally my school exams are over so I have alot of free time unlit I have to go to the army in a few days. I hope I finish the plans until then and work on the building on my exits.

One question off topic...Im drawing side views and a central crossectional view. On the side views I want to draw the contours but I dont know how much to write down as wood removed. Where can I find some photos showing some dimentions of side guitar views to get an idea?