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Has anybody tried any alternates to honduran mahogany for necks. In shopping around, everybody seems to be expecting this wood to go away soon. I used some Spanish Cedar once when I ordered it by mistake. I know they use it for classical guitars but I just added some carbon fiber stiffeners and it seemed to work fine on a steel string. It is quite a bit lighter than mahogany. I see Ed Dicks is offering African mahogany neck blanks. It seems we will probabaly have no choice but to find something suitablle soon.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

John,

I don't have any suggestions, but I agree with what you are saying. I hope to try some domestic woods for necks in the future.

Is there a low weight domestic wood that could be used? Maybe laminated like Bob C. does, for added strength?

Jeff

I have used maple several times with great success, and walnut once. I just laminate them.

I have never had a problem.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I've used walnut a few times, Spanish cedar a couple times, and Sapele many times. All one piece necks, nothing special added(aluminum Martin-style truss rod), and all are fine, still.

Cherry is also said to work well and be stable. Ah, there's the key word: stable! Yes, any stable and strong hardwood will work well.

I've never used walnut but I have heard of several luthiers that like it. Another possiblility is cherry. I think well quartered and cured cherry may be an excellent neck wood and there is plenty of it around.

As I understand it Mahogany is now or is soon to be on the Cites list. I have a brother in law that owns a machine shop and they buy mahogany by the 1000 board foot to be used in pattern making and prototyping (and then to his fireplace). His shop has gone to using man made material for this purpose even tho it is more expensive.
The opinion I get from him is that the overall quality of the wood has declined over the years forcing him to go to man made materials. According to my brother in law most shops are going the same way so I guess that is good news for us luthiers as it may decrease demand.

I have tried a few. African mahogany works just fine as does walnut, butternut, sapele, maple, and cherry which makes a beautiful neck. Laminating always helps with stability.

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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

[QUOTE=Bobc] I have tried a few. African mahogany works just fine as does walnut, butternut, sapele, maple, and cherry which makes a beautiful neck. Laminating always helps with stability.[/QUOTE]

Same here, Bob...and others who have posted trying to get that coveted groupie status. I love walnut necks. I try to match--where doable--the neck to the body. But there have been no Indian Rosewood necks yet. I have made a 3-piece laminate with IR in the middle. Talk about stiff! Hey BobC-- I see a future for you in neck sales. How's that going?

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=Bobc] I have tried a few. African mahogany works just fine as does walnut, butternut, sapele, maple, and cherry which makes a beautiful neck. Laminating always helps with stability.[/QUOTE]

Glad to hear about the butternut. I bought a 3.5x6x26" block just recently to give it a try. I also believe that Gibson used walnut on necks on their older models, particularly the ones that appear died almost black. I think we have plenty of domestic wood available for neck material. I've also been stocking up on neck wood that matches the b/s I've purchased from Bob and others (pao, bloodwood, walnut, lacewood, etc). I like it when the neck looks just like a continuation of the body.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

The b/s I purchased from Bob!!!

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I have matched walnut necks up with Indian rosewood, padouk necks with padouk guitars, narra necks with narra guitars and cherry necks with cherry guitars. They all work well if dry, well quartered and especially if laminated so that the grain directions are mirrored symmetrically around the laminate joint. Rick Turner thinks Eastern Walnut is one of the best neck woods going.

John

Paul S.,
Yes indeedy, Mahogany has been added to the CITES list, but not listed as being as critically depleted as Brazilian Rosewood yet, just endangered and depleting. Honestly, the biggest culprits are the veneer industry, who log most of it, and sift through it all picking out the most choicely figured woods, and leaving the rest for us folks.

The two domestic woods I've been hearing the most about as replacements for mahogany are Cherry and Walnut. Maple has always been used in the electric guitar world, so that's in plenty supply also. I happened to see some Brazilian Walnut at a lumber yard a few months ago, and it was great stuff too, albeit a bit heavier than mahogany.

We really need to start exploring the possibilites of using more domestics if we can. We're going to be forced into it eventually anyway.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I've had the expierience of dealing with old furniture that has been veenered (that 1/32" stuff). It just does not last. The glue peels up and forms cracked waves that is impossilbe to repair. I agree, it's time to explore alternate woods. The sad part is that mahogany is such a great neck wood because it's so stable. Many other woods are good but I think you have to be VERY picky. Straight grained and quarter sawn become important factors, whereas with mohagany it was not such a big deal since it is so homogenous.

My personal electroCoustics all have Douglas Fir necks. Highly resonant, and more stable than mahogany. It can be a bit stringy when carved with a drawknife or spokeshave, but other than that works easily. I use a tung oil varnish(hand padded) and it wears great. The only thing to be cautious about is the use of a too tight capo, as the surgace is a bit soft...but on all three of the instruments(well, the "electroBro" doesn't even have a rod in it's square neck), I've never had to adjust the neck since they were a week old. NO underbow changes through the seasons.

I've only got one customer that's gone for the fir though...but he does have three five string bass necks mad from the stuff. Most everybody else requests mahogany; I have done maple and walnut....and prefer the fir.

I will try the Spanish cedar though; I've worked with it before and it carves easily.

Steve so far it's going very good. Thanks to all my OLF pals.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Almost all of my guitars (electrics and the acoustic) have African mahogany necks, save two (I think..) Can't say I noticed huge differences in stiffness, workability, etc. This said, I'm always on the lookout for nicely quartered cherry and walnut boards to use in future, as well as sifting through the local yards still fairly sizeable Honduran Mahogany pile for quartered neck blank stock.

Cherry is great, so far I have only used it for classicals. I have been told by other luthiers that it does not have to be quartersawn, mine is not, and it is very strong.

My grandpa has a tree about 6-8 inches in dia. that is interferring with a maple (wants to keep the maple). Do I cut it for him and a) save it for neck wood? or b) use as firewood? I need to cut it soon either way, before the quarentine includes Isabella County!

Also, does anyone do flat-sawn on their necks? Roger Siminoff did an experiment in which he concluded that it was slightly stronger. Just wondering. Previous post seems to be the first I've noticed on that note.

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DES - Shepherd, MI

A lot (most?) of fender necks through the years were flat sawn... For the most part those have held up well.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I know they make them, but I'm as.....buttuming that you are referring to electrics. And again, would ash work?

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DES - Shepherd, MI

Yes, electrics, but I can't imagine why there would be much of a difference. Sure acoustic strings are a heavier guage, but I think it would still work ok.

And if you were REALLY worried about it, flip it up on its side and laminate a few pieces together. This is a common way to build acoustic necks.

As to ash... that can be kind of heavy -- especially on an acoustic. Personally, I wouldn't do it. I would just grab some maple from a local source... but it might work ok.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Now, I just have to get around to cutting it down.

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DES - Shepherd, MI