Official Luthiers Forum!

Has anyone here ever used birds eye maple to make a one piece neck for a steel string acoustic? If so did you find a piece large enough to nest two necks? I'm having trouble finding a source. It may be that that figure is too rare to come in that size. I don't know. I was planning on reinforcing with carbon rods since birds eye shows on the flatsawn face. All I seem to find is LMI 1x3 3/4 blanks.

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Ken, true birdseye figure shows on all lineal grain orientation planes except the last few degrees towards full quartersawn. The "eyes" only elongate as the grain approaches QS then can become a bit "curly" due to the undulations. This is often a misconception... Try it...you'll see.

Again larry is right you will see the birdseyes on all faces but you will get a fine curl like figure on the true quarter.
it actualy quite nice in its own right.

birdseye,s are not small knots as some people think they are actualy a conical growth of the grain fibers which causes the wonderfull curly activity around the eye,s.

I stock highly figured birdseye neck blanks but i buy my stock kiln dried at 35mm i dont often see it thicker than that i could'nt tell you why.

I sell all my neck blanks with scarf jointing and stacked heels in mind being 35" long x 3-3 1/2 wide x 1" thick.
i very rarely sell one piece neck blanks due to lack of demand these days.

that said i sell very few birdseye necks to acoustic builders probably just becouse its not fashionable i see no reason not to use it.

Thanks Larry and Joel. You learn something new every day. I guess I just remember seeing that short curly figure on the quarter face. I suppose I could laminate three riftsawn boards and still get the figure. I just don't like the look of stacked heels with lighter woods.

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Hi Ken,

If anyone is looking for some nice birdseye, this is the guy to talk to. He has some of the most stunning birdseye I have ever laid my eyes on. I'm sure if you contact Barlow he can get birdseye in sizes large enough for necks.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/2781

Vince

Maple is a traditional neck wood for archtops, I don't see why you couldn't use it for a "flat-top".

_________________
The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

If you're doing this for stiffness concerns, you might find that flatsawn is actually more stiff than quartersawn. Or is there a different reason?

Birdseye is, as has been said, a form of 'indented ring' figure. You will often find similar figure, sometimes quite specatcular, in soft woods as well.

One reason it's hard to find in thick planks is that it can come and go. Nobody seems to know why a maple tree starts making bird's eyes, but when it does it's in the outer growth layers of the tree. A tree might grow to fairly good size with no 'bird' figure, put on a few years growth with it, and then stop making it. The result will be a sort of shell of birdseye all around the tree at a particular distance out from the center, with possibly plain wood inside and outside of that.

Loggers are always on the lookout for logs with bird figure: it's one of the few kinds that you can spot easily in the log, apparently. Logs with a lot of bird are set aside for veneer; the loggers get a lot more for them than they get for plain maple. If a log with bird figure makes it to a saw mill the sawyers will try to maximize the number of figured planks they get from it, again for economic reasons. Usually they can get more for two 1" planks than for one 2" one, and the figure might only go in for an inch anyway. Thus you don't see much bird over 1" thick.

Maple has the rep of being less stable than mahogany, and I like to laminate maple necks from book matched pieces when possible. This might be tricky with bird.

Ken, the above responses are dead on; it is very difficult to find a piece of 12/4 flatsawn maple that is all white, and has lots of 'eye.

As you probably know the birdseye figure radiates out from the center of the tree like spokes on a bicycle. So the closer to the inside of the tree you are the higher concentration of eyes you'll have. This is why the most figured birdseye boards you'll see on eBay or wherever generally have the darker heartwood on one side (or both).

A lot of archtop builders who use birdseye necks start with a flat/slab sawn 6/4 or 8/4 (1-1/2" or 2") board that is at least 8" wide. Then rip it down the middle and glue a stringer in between the halves.

This type of board is a lot easier to find from the places that stock birdseye. I recommend giving Eric at Bell Forest Products a call; they generally have some nice all white 7/4 boards in stock.

I have Birdseye Hard Maple in stock I have 8-12” in three different grades available

• 2 and better unselected for color $5.00 a bd. ft.
• 1C and better unselected for color $7.00 a bd. ft.
• Select and Better/Heavy Eyed $9.00 a bd. ft.
• Add 20% for 1&2 White (selected for color)

Thank you.

Thanks everyone for the information. It all makes a lot of sense. I can see where a laminated neck is probably the best way to go.

_________________
Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com