Official Luthiers Forum!

Is it okay for me to use flatsawn Honduras mahogany for a guitar neck?

sure; put it on edge and laminate it. don't use it with the grain running horizontally across the neck.

How about left flat, but with cf rods added?

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DES - Shepherd, MI

not as stable torsionally.

Michaels right, you can use it, just laminate it with some other wood first.. Looks better that way anyway :)

The CF Rods help but the neck still needs to carry the majority of the load, I use CF in my necks to help keep them stable and in my braces to prevent seasonal movement (or minimize should I say)...

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

With a long enough piece of flatsawn wood you can cut it in half fold it back onto itself and then laminate. This helps to balance any tendancy the wood may have to warp or twist. Add contrast woods in the middle using the same idea and you will have a very strong and stable neck with vertical grain.

   I'd avoid using that flatsawn piece in your neck unless you do as suggested wisely and turn it 90 degrees and laminate it. The problem with it being flatsawn and used in the neck with the grain running horizontally through the barrel of the neck won't be as evident in the actual length of the neck, but in the heel area.

   With the grain being oriented that way you will run the risk of it splitting across the heel from bass to treble sides at some point and the neck portion toward the top pulling off as it tears the fingerboard tongue up with it. I have built necks using flatsawn wood in that situation, but only with a specific joint which consists of a half inch rod of aircraft grade aluminum being inserted into a hole drilled through the heel area from the bottom of the truss rod slot to the back of the heel. Two holes are then drilled through the tenon on the neck and into the full thickness of the rod and tapped with 1/4"-20 threads for bolts to be turned into to retain it. With this joint the bolts pull against the entire length of the aluminum rod as it disperses the load across the entire heel length from the bottom of the fingerboard tom the heel cap at the back. I only used it with a full width heel; that matched the edge of a cutaway and not with a traditionally tapered heel design. They were on a pair of guitars that went to a Japanese collector/player and they've lasted 8 and nine years without incident.

   Unless you're ready to apply some different ideas and stress relief system in the application, I would just stack it up with a few other pieces and take advantage of the strength that comes with the grain runnig in the other direction...from top to back.

Just my opinion again.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars