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Hi there
I'm a newbie to the luthier area, but I am currently planning to build my first bass. The build starts in a couple of months.

It's gonna be a 4 string laminated neck-through 34'' with Hipshot A style bridge, Hipshot HB6(Y) tuners, Nordstrand MM 4.2 pickup and Aguilar OBP-3TK preamp.

The design will be my own, but inspired from a bass like the Ritter Roya.

At the moment I'm shopping for wood. I would like to make a laminated maple/wenge neck with birdseye maple fretboard. The body wood is yet undecided - And here comes my question.

I know that a quarter sawn neck is appreciated for one piece, but when I laminate my neck which way should the wood structure be? And how much does it matter in a laminated neck? Are there any guidelines? What would you do?

I hope that my picture shows my concern and illustrates my question. Other variants may be better - perhaps?

All inputs are welcome

Best regards
Hasse / Denmark

Hi Hasse,
I 'd be inclined to laminate flat-sawn boards so the grain lines are perpendicular to the fretboard.
I'm not an expert, just my opinion.
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Honestly I don't care for any of those orientations. I make mine with a center section that khas the grain perfectly vertical, 90 degrees to the fret board and the outer pieces are opposed rift sawn pieces. Here is a quick sketch. Sorry the pic is so big.......

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Of the four, and assuming that is the only wood you have available to you, number 1 or 3 would work best. Make the grains of the woods fight against each other. In my opinion, three flat sawn maple boards with the grain oriented against each other will be stronger and less likely to warp or twist than a single quarter sawn board, simple physics. Just my opinion though.

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Whatever you do DON'T confuse me as an EXPERT, or MASTER, just a self learned trial and error guy. I had to build a dozen guitar before I found out what a "Luthier" even was (????)

Built a few laminated bass necks. I use flat sawn wood turned on it's side so it's quartersawn. I also add Purpleheart laminates. Those necks won't move for anything. I like how Mr. Howard oriented his. Sort of like #3, except the center grain is quartersawn.

Hi everyone
Thanks for the replies. I allready knew there was no single solution to this. So thank you very much for your input. Gives me something to think about and some inspiration

It's possible i can get other woods, and actually I have been offered some purpleheart recently.

@JimO - how thick do you make the laminates? And is orientation important on such small thicknesses?

I get 4/4 (1") Maple and Purpleheart that is flatsawn. I'll cut them a little thicker than the body I'm building, ex. 1 3/4" w x 1" x 40" for a strat. I do the same with the laminates, then resaw the laminates to around 5/16" to sand down to 1/4" approx. So I cut two maple pieces for the outer pieces, 3 - 1/4" Purpleheart, and 2 = 1/4" maple filler strips. I make the lams the same thickness with each other.

All started out flatsawn and were turned to quartersawn orientation making a stable neck.

My first neck which was Walnut and Ipe will not bend for anything. This construction works, and looks cool too. Use your imagination as any good guitar wood will do. I just started out with maple and PH.

Never enough clamps! LOL!


After gluing I'll run it thru a joiner and thickness sander to square it up.


Cool neck lams.