Official Luthiers Forum!

I am wondering why almost all Luthiers use Mahogany for the neck wood does it help the sound that much or is it just because it is cheap? Would a solid gaboon ebony neck hurt the sound or a solid ziricote neck or Indian rosewood neck. I am putting a solid piece of Indian rosewood on my current guitar but I was considering an african blackwood neck to match the back and sides for my next guitar and I don't really want to chance it.

Stability and resistance to warping and twisting. All the woods you mention, except EIR, are not considered stable. Weight is the other issue, a neck heavy acoustic guitar is less pleasant to play. That being said, if you have access to straight grain, old, ultra seasoned stock and build in controlled RH and temp, it can be done.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I'm sure price has something to do with it, but so does weight; an African blackwood neck would make an extremely neck heavy guitar. Rosewood is more common on electrics, and lots of folks love the sound of feel of them. I think mahogany is about the perfect neck wood; stiff, light, stable, inexpensive (for now), what's not to like? You can always stain it too, if you want it to match the sides and back better.

<edit> Laurent types faster than me! Glad to see we seem to agree, though.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Mahogany is really nice to carve, too.

_________________
______________________________
Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Lots of good advise so far.

Weight & cost are very important.
There are lots of native woods to use that are great !
Maple,Cherry,Walnut,-just to name some!
The suppliers on this site have good seasoned woods for sale.
I'd stick with something like Mahogany if you just starting out.

Mike

_________________
Mike Collins

Lots of good advise so far.

Weight & cost are very important.
There are lots of native woods to use that are great !
Maple,Cherry,Walnut,-just to name some!
The suppliers on this site have good seasoned woods for sale.
I'd stick with something like Mahogany if you just starting out.

Mike

_________________
Mike Collins

I played a steel string guitar the other week with a cedar neck for the first time. I see it is isn't very common, but it was amazingly light, smooth and a joy to play. Any reason why cedar isn't so common on steel strings as much as nylon?

There's a big difference between cedar (cedrelus, North american cedar) and Spanish cedar (cedrela, tropical, mahogany family). Cedrela works fine, though I think cedrelus might not be stiff enough in that cross section without reinforcement and would be extremely easy to dent.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services