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I am still humming and harring about the bit of elm (U.glabra) I got some time back- I acquired some after the expereinced woodsman/woodworker pal of mine told me that Elm was an extremely stable wood once it had "dried"

A few days later, I mention to another woodworking pal that I am intending to use elm for guitar necks and he literally choked on his cup of tea, exclaming that the stuff is terribly unstable- moving about with humidity changes.

I really haven't had much experience with this wood, and would like some thoughts on it's properties please- from inspecting the stuff, I can compare the "density" to oak.....I might try and resaw some back and sides, and perhaps some neck lams.

The stuff has been sitting in my shop for a couple of months now, and to my knowledge and inspection, hasn't "moved" much from the recent seasonal change.

I used elm many years ago for some Alembic bass tops and backs, and I didn't notice it doing anything weird. It looks kind of like a cross between our ash and your English brown oak.   Because of the coarse grain, it would not be on my list of choices for neck wood, but well pore filled, and with some graphite in the neck, it may be fine.

Get it cut as close to final dimension as you can, and let it dry some more...then carve the basic neck shape before gluing on the fingerboard, and do that glue joint with epoxy or polyurethane glue so you don't introduce any moisture into the neck when you glue.

I have a tree surgeon pal who has a load of Wych Elm drying for me.....

APPARENTLY it bends really easily (according to google anyway) so I'm going to try a mandonaught or guitar back & sides "just to see".... sometime!!

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