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I harvested some walnut a few years back. I was cutting it up when I noticed that it had some sapwood running through it. Normally, I think it's pretty,especially for backs or sides, but for necks? I don't think I ever saw a neck showing any sapwood. Is this a structural thing? I don't want to go through all of that just to find that my walnut neck wasn't structurally sound or stable because of the sapwood. Thanks Clinton

A little sapwood on the ear of the headstock would not hurt anything, but I would stay away from it for the main neck shaft. My experience with walnut sapwood is that it is considerably more brittle than the heartwood.

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Thanks, although I was hoping for a different answer. I haven't seen but two or three walnut necks and haven't seen sapwood in them got me doubting the use of this particular piece. THanks Clinton

You can always try it out if you don't have any other use for it. You can always replace it later if it doesn't work out.

If you book match the pieces and glue the sapwood together it may workout for you. I would certainly use carbon fibre rods to stiffen it up though as I would think the sapwood would be weaker than the heartwood.

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