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Man, looking for the right piece of wood can be quite a challenge. I've been looking and looking for some quilted or curly figured Oregon Big Leaf Maple. It's pretty much got to be that species to get the right tone to match this Olive Wood set. I need a piece of lumber with 25"x4x1.5" of usable material and I'll sandwich a piece of ziricote in the middle of a 3 piece.
I believe a stacked heel with laminated neck might look odd but if you can prove me wrong with pics I'd love that too since it would certainly be a lot cheaper.

Cook Woods was looking promising but I've been looking for far too long. Called and had them take a look as well but I don't want to spend $125 for a rifle blank. So here I am, looking for suggestions. Thanks!



note: This image has a little too much green tint to it. The set is a little more orange/brown then shown.

You could check with Vince at Pacific Coast Woods. None of the neck blank sizes on the web site quite match what you're looking for, but he might have something lying around or that he could cut for you.

There's also Goby Walnut (http://www.gobywalnut.com/instrument-tonewoods.htm). Not a sponsor, and I've never bought from them, but they have one-piece figured bigleaf neck blanks pretty cheap.

wow! Thank you! I had Goby in my favorites from my walnut build but didn't even notice before that they sold anything else! Great news. I'll drop them an email
Northridge Hardwoods has some gorgeous figured neck blanks that have made me contemplate not stacking.

hey alex, i've got a piece of maple that's 1 1/8" +, x 10" x 29"(?).
i could verify size if you're interested.

The Wood Well. Great people and product.

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michael propsom
www.propsomguitars.com

Thanks Alan but I'll hold out for a couple pieces of 6/4 atleast for the time being. Much appreciated though

I saw some nice billets on eBay that might interest you in the Luthier/supply section under guitars. Several were 8/4 or better. Just typed in maple an came across at least six that might work for you.

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Aoibeann

I have a love/hate thing with ebay. Wish some of the sellers would just list their phone so by the time my question is answered the auction's not over.

Thanks for the woodwell link. Some gorgeous stuff. Spendy but you can tell it's great quality and neck suitable.

On a side note, I've contacted 2 companies by email 3 days ago and no response at all. I guess the sale doesn't matter to them?!

Maybe I'm being too cheap but I was hoping to not spend more than $50-60 if I can only get 1 neck out of a piece of wood.
How much would you pay and who does stacked heel blocks and scarfs instead?

Dude, any lumberyard in the US of A will carry maple, be nice and go through the piles, you must find something. You won't get it for free, but it shouldn't be real expensive either. The thicker the lumber, the more expensive it is. Sawing lumber IS labour.
Each time I go to Lowe's I look at the maple racks and always seem to find a nice 3/4" curly board I resaw for purfling sheets. All flat-sawn, 4 laminations would make a nice neck blank for 2 necks. But it's going to be more than $50. How much did you pay for the olive set anyway?
A stacked heel and a scarf peghead will look like Hell with curly maple, the glue lines and differences in grain/curl direction will be glaringly obvious. BTW I would prefer acer saccharum for necks on a steel string, and the curl is usually finer too.

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

Are there no hardwood lumberyards near you? You don't have to buy neck wood from a "tonewood" supplier. Figured maple is easy to find. There aren't special trees that guitar necks grow on. It's just lumber.

BTW, my experience with Cook has led me to be mistrustful of them.

And why do you think you need bigleaf maple for tone? Some synergy it's supposed to have with this set of olivewood? Or are you talking about color?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

If you go with a laminated neck, you could veneer the back of the headstock to hide most of the scarf joint, and use something entirely different for the heel. Maybe do a center strip lamination of mahogany, and mahogany heel block. I think it would look pretty cool if you do some purfling tricks around the laminations. Something like this:

1. Laminate one white fiber sheet and one black together, about half the width and twice the length of the heel block.
2. Glue the W/B purfling onto the side of that. The white of this will eventually connect to the white of the shaft's purflings.
3. Laminate that onto another black sheet, that "caps" the white of the W/B purfling against the heel block.
4. Cut the sheet in half, and glue the mahogany strip between the purfling side of each piece.
5. Laminate this on top of the heel block, "black cap" side down.

I think I'll do this one myself sometime, but you're quite welcome to use it as well

Hey Dennis. That is pretty cool!
No Oregon Big Leaf in my local lumber yards- and yeah- it's the tone I'm looking for. It could be any type of maple but others seem to be much lighter in color. Lot's of cool wood around the net but it's usually 4/4. Get thicker than that and the price increases significantly.

Alexander, if you are planning on coming to the wet side of the Cascades, let me know. I'll send you a list of hardwood suppliers to check out. I understand your issues with eBay. I have the same ones. FYI, there is a seller who handles a lot of big leaf maple who is in Orting, just outside of Lewis/McCord. You might be able to paw through he stash.

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Aoibeann

Thank you for that tip. I have a sister in Seattle. Maybe a trip is in order