Official Luthiers Forum!

I must admit I can be a wood hoarder. I have carried around pieces and scraps for years. At the time I always told myself I would build something useful, like furniture or cabinets. As I get older my thoughts have turned to building instruments, so recently I have started going through my stockpile looking for quarter sawn pieces....not much there, but I have a lot of mahogany that is rift cut or flat sawn. Not sure about the rift cut stuff for instruments though. Has anyone had any success with it?

A lot of the back sets being used today have some off quarter "rift cut" sections. Mahogany is one of the most stable of woods , so I would consider using it even if rift cut.

Yeah and depending on the thickness, a flatsawn board can be used for necks...

I will use riftsawn for necks if the species is a stable one. Mahogany qualifies.

Mahogany and Spanish Cedar both are extremely stable once dried. Luthiers in Spain have used both for many years regardless of grain orientation.

I have some large boards that need to be resawn of mahogany that I bought locally on Craig's List. I normally would not use flat sawn wood but this is some of the most highly figured mahogany I've ever seen. So I will be using it. Mahogany as was mentioned is very stable and studies show that QS wood is no stronger then flat. It's more stable though but mahogany is almost dimensionally stable. I regularly use flat sawn mahogany for necks too. The stock I have is 75 years old now, very stable even flat sawn.

Flatsawn boards can also be laminated on their broad faces into a ‘faux quartersawn’ neck blank.

(Sorry, double post)

There is no good reason to insist on quartered (vertical grain) mahogany for necks. It is not stiffer, and is more prone to headstock and heel breaks than rift or slab. I try to avoid slab cut wood for sides, due to the rippling that can occur during bending. IMHO, rift cut mahogany is just fine.

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John

For laminated necks with a center stripe laminate, I like to use rift sawn wood, as close to 45 degrees off quarter as possible, with the end grain angling outwards from the center laminate--looks like an inverted V /|\ when viewed from the end. Sort of a faux bookmatch. Done this way, when the neck is carved, it has medullary rays showing all around the neck shaft.

Dave