mistermikev

yeah, even 1/4 x 1.5" x 3' ebony is going to be somewhere around $60 a strip and lam is probably still $30+ I would guess.  Just wouldn't use it unless a build really wouldn't look right w/o it esp since as a veneer strip - you wouldn't be able to distinguish it from dyed walnut. 

surely not building entire necks out of it like @komodo (I hear he's related to the rockafellers)!  jk K... envious.

congrats!

ah, right, that's purple heart that turned to brown heart then?

right... small = more difficult.  I can think of sev ways I'd cut it... including yours... but I suspect the difficult part is getting straight lines with a scroll saw, or not busing it with a router.

walnut mahog and maple a winning comb.

wow, I would love to try that but it seems like a lot of work.  respect.

1 hour ago, Norris said:

I don't know if you have access to African khaya in the states. It looks and works like mahogany. The body of my build is solid but very light. There are lots of varieties of khaya - the one I'm using for  the body is quite pinkish in colour, but is looking like mahogany after a few coats of Tru Oil. The neck is a darker, denser variety. I'll do a weigh in on my thread before I hand it over to its owner. It's certainly very light weight for anything resembling a Gibbo

thanks Norris.  I have a what's left of a 8/4 x 13" x 12' stick of it in my garage along with some 12/4.  the delta lectric, and sweet spot blonde builds were all cut from that stick.  I suspect that a 1.75" solid body of that is gonna make a guitar fall in the 7.5-8.5lb range.  it has bee my understanding that khaya mahog can be light OR heavy - this one being on the lighter side of heavy and very orange.  I've been waiting for a new shipment of mahog at my local spot to see if I can pick thru and find a lighter 13" board but it's hard to judge weight on something that big.

I could go buy some stuff from a few spots that I know is light, but I'm in no hurry and I prefer the prices at my local spot.

wow, those look really great.  are they cnc or hand?

right on welcome.  I waited far too long to start building because I had ideas of it when I was 16 and assembled lots of parts guitars but never did a scratch build until 30 yrs later. 

so joining boards sounds like it's going to play a big part in your build.  what tools?  you a hand planer type or router type or jointer type? 

big fan of chambered as I'm a big fan of light guitars - everything I've built so far has been chambered as I have yet to find wood that is light enough to go fully solid. 

look fwd to seeing your build pics.

1 hour ago, willliam_q said:

Golden ratio?  Please enlighten me.

it's a math formula.  it occurs in nature all over the place... is used for fractals... and a lot of digital media courses will tell you that it is a recipe for things 'looking good'.  basically a+b/a = a/b.  at least that's my understanding of it.

not to be confused with the godin ratio... which is the number of guitars you have that are not made by godin vs the number of guitar you have that are made  by godin.

while I think diamonds could be a pretty interesting effect... I'm primarily interested in simple designs.  did spark something tho... going to go look at some pool queues (or cues for those not into the levity thing)

.

while that does appear to be the case... if we simply combined the two 1/8" pieces into 2 1/4" piece each... the ratio is still there while the magic is gone, at least for me.  I 'spose if we add in the requirement of asymmetry... then yes. so it def proves a good guideline but not a guarantee for me

iow pretty sure if you start dividing pieces up on this... it's going to get too busy real fast while maintaining that ratio

trying to put it in a box... for some reason I'm really attracted when there are exactly three sizes and one of those sizes is really small... and there aren't too many pieces.  

also, thank you for the response biz.

so I have been looking around at differing approaches to neck laminations... started building a photoshop doc just to look at the differing possibilities.  I am aware that some folks do tapered, some don't.  all good.  this guy says it is better if you align your laminations closer with the strings:

http://wynguitars.com/guitars-in-progress-film-at-11/

I am also aware that there are many differing combos of different sized wood strips... and have found a few I really like.  wanted to catalog some here and ask for input on possible cool variations.

this is a cool and interesting resource from alembic - suggestion "different sounds from different combos" but more importantly... cover a lot of ground as far as different possible looks:

http://www.alembic.com/info/wood_neck.html

like this one quite a bit - very simple but nice.  it's easy to go over the top IMO with too many wood types and sizes:

this one is simple and lovely but more because of the wood than the actual pattern:

but so far this is my absolute favorite... just love it.  I don't even know why.  again, focused on the pattern as opposed to the wood:

this one is mind blowing but just not interested in the extra work for a scarf:

so... what pattern do you like?  Can you add to the collection here - any pics of nice patterns?

must not be that deep then - I'm assuming you mean by hand and NOT with a power sander or anything.  If so, I'd say 'go for it' probably not much risk if you are sanding thru easily altho with a neck there is always some risk that removing the finish would cause the wood to draw/release moisture and change.

right on.  that's a good option.  I was wondering how you'd do an inlay over the curve... that's why I was thinking perhaps a wood replacement.  sounds like you got yer plan.  look fwd to seeing it.

I would just take an angle grinder to it (totally kidding!).  man... if it's stain... I would not think it would be a good idea to try to get it out.  Even tho you'd probably only have to go down 1/32" of wood... that could prove a disaster.  just sayin.

it were mine... given such a beauty top... I'd probably try to replace the wood  in that area and cover it with an inlay of some sort.  Esp if you did something there that matched the headstock and tied it all together... but what do I know.

nicely done.  yes, frets stand out... nice and shiny.  good job.

looks good.  that abalone really pops against the black... fb and headstock.

38 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said:

For the record, I am not saying that I think multi lam maple necks are cheap, I really like them (esp with go faster stripes)  but I am saying that a lot of cheaper guitar necks are made that way. I'm thinking about the hondo bass I refretted last year and maple PRS SEs etc. So the persona of cheapness is probably there for a lot of players. In a lot of cases it has nothing to do with appearance or stability, but that 3x 1" maple boards are much cheaper than 1x 3" maple boards in material terms.

no, I didn't take it that way.  it is just your impression of the style - nothing wrong or right about that... just is.  wait, did you just say you think hondo is cheap?  I am offensiveded.

36 minutes ago, ScottR said:

I personally like the look and feel of one piece necks the best. But I've made two and three piece necks as well. For me it's about the wood choice I've made first, and the size I can get it in next. Then I use as many pieces as it takes to fit my neck profile.

SR

right on.  I love one piece (well two piece w a fretboard right) but for some things multi-lam just seems "more righter", like some of the high end ken smith and warwick basses.

def does not look right to me on a strat or tele.

57 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Don't get me wrong, for everyday furniture I appreciate the ikea philosophy a lot. For our kitchen table the finger jointed slat top is perfect. It's mostly hidden under the tablecloth and unlike a veneered or laminated top it can be sanded and relacquered in case it wears out. And it saves a LOT of wood which I like! But I wouldn't build a natural finish guitar out of it under normal circumstances.

Then again, IKEA guitars made of finger joined bits and pieces might be the next green craze! Now what's their phone number and should I call directly their headquarters in Sweden? My Swedish isn't that rusty, guess I could negotiate a percentage for the idea if they buy it...

funny, was just involved in a thread on facebook regarding a finger jointed headstock.  I said it looks cheap because it reminds me a lot of two things: flooring and moudings.  I also think it just doesn't seem like it would be that stable due to the short grain... but what do I know.  I guess they did this on taylors for a while... wonder why they stopped because according to the expert on facebook it was a super strong joint and the only reason luthiers don't use it is because it's difficult to do. 

IKEA... hmmm... wonder where our resident fine furniture expert is?  @Prostheta what say ye?  IKEA =  good or bad?

3 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

A friend who's a trained luthier and has worked for a while in a bespoke guitar factory had learned the same during his studies. Just stacking similar woods without an idea doesn't require creativity, it's just plain carpentry. Strong, yes. Interesting looking? Not so much. Bookmatching is an example of a planned seam without accentuation, so is making the seam invisible by choosing a similar grain pattern.

One reason for it looking cheap is the widely used inexpensive boards made out of slats. Suffice to say "IKEA"...

how dare thee speak ill of the great ikea.  you just don't "GET" fine cabinetry.

cheap - I could see that... but then again... I look at the early slip matched les pauls and think whao... spendy.  I don't really agree with the historical accurate crazy-ness like some of the maniacs over at mylespaul... but have to admit... there is something to that whole not bookmatched thing that looks great on a les paul. 

I spose we all have to choose our own line between what is generally accepted as 'hi faluten luthery' and 'simple beauty'.  I love the look of my hamer's neck, but had a dean bass with veneer strips that looked cheap to me... guess I'm doing it wrong!  admittedly this whole conversation has its origin in my plans to build a spector like bass... and I fully intend to put some veneer between the 4 strips of maple ns4 be damned!  Guess I'll have to admit that I'm doing it because it looks, well... fancier?

I just received some brazillian rosewood strips from b and b rare woods.  not black but I think 'close nuff'.  also got some beautiful flamed ash... be a shame to use it for accent but only 5 or 6" wide so... think that'll be it's fate on the other bass I'm planning.

19 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said:

I don't really pay much attention to the properties of something I'm only using as a veneer. I'm sure there is a valid argument for a veneer between laminates providing strength, but I expect it is probably negligible, in fact it is probably the extra glue that provides said strength, the veneer is .5mm thick so I can't see it has a real impact, I just use it for the visual aspect - 3 pieces of maple stuck together looks like a "cheap" neck, but 3 pieces of maple with something contrasting between looks cool while only adding about £2 to the material cost.

I wasn't saying the oak as a veneer would add strength... but more considering it's use as say a 1/4" strip - in place of wenge - to add rigidity.  I agree the most one can hope for from a veneer is to not take away any strength but yeah... it's really just decoration.

interesting that you think a multi piece neck looks cheap... I wonder if that's a commonly held thought (not necc disagreeing) never occurred to me.  the spector basses are all done this way.  4 pieces of flamed maple w o any accent.  my hamer steve stevens and a few others.  veneer does look nice tho.

7 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

I posted this on instagram a couple of days ago. I laminated 3 flamed maple offcuts with bog oak veneer for accent strips. It's black naturally so no dye needed. I don't know what sourcing it on your side of the pond will be like, but it was pretty cheap for me to get off ebay, something like £20 for a long sheet. I've also used it between the top and body on the Billy Bongo bass.
 

 

missed your post before.  Right on.  I actually was looking at some 'fumed' oak that is supposed to look like actual bog oak... as I understand bog oak itself is uber spensive.  I guess they just take oak and put it in a sealed container with vinegar and the tannin in it turns it all black.  Pretty much the sm process as ebonizing.  I saw over at 'certainly wood' they have some rather reasonable and long rolls of it so... will likely go with that too.

oak strikes me as a LOT like wenge.  very brittle, very ridgid, very prone to blowouts.  a bit heavier in general and a lot harder on the knives.  I like it a lot for guitar wood altho I don't think I'd want to see a whole neck made of it (zero spring)or body for that matter(heavy).  it seems like it would be ideal for reinforcement in the sm capacity as wenge.  given it's readily available and cheap here... I might have to try turning some of it black to see how that works.

thanks for the suggestion.