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I've seen quite a few rosewood necks on electrics, but I have yet to see and acoustic with a rosewood neck. Is this because it would result in a neck heavy guitar or something else? I used to have a solid body electric with an unfinished Brazilian rosewood neck that was wonderful so I'm wondering...

And, has anyone here made a bubinga neck. I like bubinga, but am wondering if it's suitable for a solid neck. I know it's used as a component in some laminated necks.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I've heard of it being done before, but never actually seen pics. I was going to do it, but the grain of the blank I got from LMI is too curved for me to trust. It would probably be too heavy anyway. Though if you use a 12 fret neck, lightweight tuners, and make the box fairly heavy, it could probably be balanced well. A minimalist slotted headstock would help too (not much wood past the end of the slots where it has maximum leverage).

I'd say pretty much any harder-than-mahogany wood should work, provided the grain is straight. Softer than mahogany, look at the Young's modulus and strength values. Humidity expansion rates are possibly a concern, but probably not since people use ebony fingerboards all the time, which move a lot, and use them with mahogany which moves very little, and thus should be the worst match possible, yet it still works.

In general, the lower the density, the better the stability. I would lean toward woods that are the same or less dense than mahogany. I have a strong dislike for neck-heavy acoustic guitars...they are awkward to play, which can be tiring. IMHO, stiffness (Young's modulus) is not a big concern because of the use of reinforcement.

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John

My present guitar I went less dense in a big way, Spruce. Have to be real careful with it but otherwise really liking the guitar.

The more I got into guitar building the more I realized that there are often very good reasons why those who came before us used what they used for guitar making...

I completely agree with John and a neck heavy acoustic basically sucks.... Be one a smoker, toker, drinker, or needing to turn the page on some music or even scratch your arse..... a neck heavy guitar is a pain....

I've played rosewood necked PRS's and liked them too so I can relate, J. But I would never use rosewood on an acoustic.

There is also the issue of the finite amount of vibrational energy that an acoustic produces vs. our ability to turn our electrics and amps to 11. As such my hunch is that any benefit, perceived or otherwise, of a rosewood neck may be much more realizable with electrics (with a shoulder strap) than with acoustics. Can't prove it, much of what we discuss is difficult to have empirical data for, but that's my hunch.

Maybe think 16 nice rosewood bridge blanks instead?

I worry about when Honduran Mahogany gets even more scarce because that's my favorite neck wood.

Really?! Out with the details man!

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Pat

I have a very hard time finding mahogany, I'd say the last 30 or so have been Spanish cedar, which I'm now also running out of.

It seems to get more and more expensive every day....particularly 3X4 blocks for one-piece necks. In the last 25 years, the price has increased tenfold.
I still use mahogany because of the tradition, but walnut, cherry, and soft maple all have worked very well for me. Sassafras is another domestic I intend to try.


Check with the Hampton brothers. I think they still have some nice 20-year-old stock.


A friend of mine built a classical guitar with a redwood neck in the early-1980's. Except for a couple of dents, it has survived just fine.
Spruce and redwood tend to be stiffer than hardwoods of the same density.

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John

PJ White if you don't mind laminating. Bring a flashlight.

My first acoustic has a rosewood(actually pao ferro) neck, and it works OK. It's not neck heavy, and it's a small guitar, but it is pretty heavy. I guess I should also say it has a maple top and mahogany bracing, and that also works OK.
I'm trying to build better than OK guitars now, so there won't be any more maple tops or mahogany bracing, but I might still consider a rosewood neck, particularly for a 12 fret slothead.

I've also used mesquite for a neck, and that's about as dense as rosewood.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I have used Port Orford Cedar to make the necks for my last three guitars and love it.

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George :-)

Here is one that is at Dream Guitars. I played it just a few days ago and it is very nice. I did not think the balance was way off. It definitely has a lot of sustain and low end. Great guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Oem2QwUAk#t=41

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EddieLee

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Eddie - That's a beautiful guitar in the video. Did you feel like it had any weight bias toward the neck? Did you have to hold the neck up at all while playing?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I thought about it when I first started playing it, but did not notice anything extreme. After playing it for awhile I forgot all about it and did not notice it again. I did play it for only 5 to 10 minutes. YMMV The guitar its self is a little on the heavier side but not to much so. The Greenfield guitars I played seemed much heavier.

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EddieLee

Has anyone used douglas fir, for a neck? Does anyone have any suggestions as to why I wouldn't want to use it?

I plan to build a parts bin L-00 with all of the botched parts from other projects that I have laying around. I don't have a neck that I have botched (yet!) so my plan was to use something non standard, like the piece of fir 2x4 that I have laying around.

I was snooping around Mark Kett's Facebook pics the other day, mesmerized by his work. Amongst them was a beautiful bubinga dread with a beautiful bubinga neck.

How about this beauty!!!!? Jim Olson's arguably in the top 5 flat top steel string builders in the country if not the globe.... That's one awesome BRW neck on that there SJ.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/foru ... tcount=159

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All BRW steelstring:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1157931855 ... woodSpruce
https://picasaweb.google.com/1157931855 ... Lackierung

cheers, alex

I just built an oak guitar with an oak neck:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 776959267/

and here it is finished:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 776959267/

I weighed it at 8.4 ounces and asked others to weigh a similar mahogany neck - 25.4 scale, 12 fret, slot head, M+T joint. The 3 that responded came in a 2 to 5 tenths of an ounce more. Maybe we can get some weights on other materials.

Ed

I have done three Fir necks and have mixed feeling about it. The main problem is that the early and late wood has such a difference in hardness and when you sand it you get furrows if the grain is wider in places like the heel and head joint. Otherwise I had no problem with it.



On the heavy front, used some Selangan Batu, density from 850-1,155 kg/m3, used it on a thinner neck on an 0 sized body and a 24" neck. A little neck heavy but not too bad. Looks nice with some dark grain filler.






Back to the spruce, I was just doing a practice nylon guitar as I have not done one yet and I had some cedar and oak begging to be used. I did some torrification experiments with some pine and decided to do a little guitar. I looked over my supply of neck wood and did not want to waste any on this build as I thought I would only play it until I finish the cedar/oak. I picked up a 2X3 that I had sitting around and noticed there was a fair clear section that I could glue together for a neck.



It was a fast no nonsense build that I put together in two weeks, three with finish. I absolutely love the neck, the spruce has a sort of iridescence to it with the right angle of light. Actually the pine I used for the back and sides is no slouch either. Anyway the guitar that was meant to be a throwaway has seduced me, probably should do a quick thread on it.

I have built a bubinga necked Irish bouzouki. Yes, it is very neck heavy, particularly with the truss rod and eight machine heads, but it has wonderful sustain.

That is beautiful Fred! So, it's a nylon string? How is it holding up? Truss?

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Pat

So far not bad, threw together a thread not to hijack this one.

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=46445

Ed Bond wrote:
"I have a very hard time finding mahogany, I'd say the last 30 or so have been Spanish cedar, which I'm now also running out of.

If you don't mind using a slightly heavier wood than khaya ssp., dark red meranti is a fairly cheap and available alternative. A lot of cheap import guitars use it, and I have also used it with fair results. Although it is sold as Mahogany, "Philippine" usually precedes that.

Has anyone ever used African Padauk for an acoustic guitar neck? I've seen it used for acoustic guitar neck laminates and for electric guitar necks.