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Hi guys! Do any of you have any experience with red oak? Specifically as neck wood? I'm thinking hard about beginning a solidbody electric build(from scratch). I've never built any kind of guitar from scratch, but I've assembled a few from aftermarket parts with great results. I could buy a neck blank from StewMac or LMII, but I'd like to try a couple of cheaper alternatives for my first attempts.I'm sure they'll be some mistakes, the first one or two might even be abject failures for all I know. But I can get red oak in 1''x4" from Lowe's pretty cheap. I know this wood is probably not quite ideal, but I have an old used strat style body that needs a neck, and this would be a good time to learn. I think making the neck would probably be one of the most difficult to do well first off, so cheap wood to practice with that still might yeild a usable neck when finished would be great. Once I have it pretty much down well, then I could buy a good quality maple neck blank and the body blank to build a scratch built electric. Any insight/advice would be appreciated.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

O.K., so I guess I'll just go ahead and try it. One way or another, at least I'll get some experience building a neck or two.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hey geez sorry no one responded to you here.

I would think that Oak would be pretty heavy for a neck on either an acoustic or electric. But I could be wrong and often am....

Thanks for the reply, Hesh. No worries about the lack of replies. I've seen a couple of posts about some members having log in trouble, and that was right around the time I posted, so it would've been real easy for this post to slip down the list while folks got that sorted out.
As for weight, the body I'm considering it for is pretty heavy(although it is alder). Mainly what I'm looking for is that the wood remain stable. I've never built a neck before, and I know it might take 2 or 3 tries to get one that's good enough. After all that work, It'd be nice if I could actually use it when it was finished. What I'm most concerned with is getting the scarf joint and headstock right, the truss rod installed properly,and the thing to proper length. I'm familiar with fretting and fretwork, so that's not a big worry. My other thought was to practice the scarf joint and neck shaping in pine, and when I got that right, then order a couple of maple neck blanks(one for a back up) and actually attempt the whole thing. Just trying to find a way to do a couple of dry runs before I move on to good wood.
Thanks for your time, it's much appreciated.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

i would try for something else if were you for your first neck.

allthough the oak may make a good wood to practice with.

oak is pretty coarse grained and heavy and may disapoint on a few levels.

you want a wood that will be easy to shape for your first neck.
mahogany would be graet but spanish cedar is imho the best beginers wood you can get.
its pretty chaep and wonderfull to work with.

failing that black walnut might be a good bet.

joel.

I have a lot of experience with red oak in cabinetry and would not recommend it for guitar necks. I agree with the walnut suggestion, cherry, maple are other commonly available woods. The red oak is somewhat difficult to carve, it is heavy, and unless quartersawn and dry it is not particularly stable in my experience.

Danny R. Little

I second the vote on Spanish cedar.It works like butter. I understand wanting to practice ....Just seems like oak would be tough to carve and wouldn't really have the feel of carving cedar or mahog.I practiced on a couple of pieces of pine i had laying around.You might be surprised...the neck wasn't as hard as I thought. I can say this...I have never seen an oak neck before .Practice on what ever you can find and afford....cause it is just that ...practice.But it does seem that"good" practice would be to use a more traditional wood.Just a newbie thought.
peace and respect,
big John

Thanks for all of your quick responses, guys! I will heed your advice regarding the red oak, and practice on some cheap pine. When I get that right, I'll do it for real with a good quality maple blank. Thanks again.

Mike

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Mike, if you are just looking for something to practice carving up for cheap, pick up some poplar. It carves pretty easy and is readily available at either flavor of the Borg.

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Aoibeann

Thanks, Lillian, poplar or pine'll do. Whichever's cheaper. I assume "the Borg" is a euphamism for Home Depot and Lowe's, or any other "generic" style lumber/building supply store.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Yup Borg = Lowes Depot

The poplar comes cut to just the size you need. You just have to paw through the pile to find one that's close enough to quartersawn.

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Aoibeann