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Been doing a bunch of searching and calling local lumber yards and having issues finding a source for black walnut neck blanks. Most have slab cut but very few have quarter sawn lumber period.

What do you guys do to get yours?

Do you need to have quarter sawn or can you get away with slab cut that comes close? Any experience to share here would be a big help to me.

There’s a couple on ebay and one or two sites online that sell but I was really hoping to find some locally as I'd like to try and match to a back and side set I have in color.

Any thoughts?

Nate

I typicall get flat or rift sawn and laminate it. You can cut flatsawn and rotate it 90°, so it's quartersawn in the laminated neck.

There's nothing wrong with using flat or rift sawn for a neck. While it is usually less stable than quartersawn wood, there's a good chance it will be stable enough for a neck. I'd suspect that the species of wood makes more difference than how far it is off quarter.

Don't misunderstand, neck wood does need to be stable, but using quartersawn wood does not guarantee stability and using off quarter wood does not preclude stability.

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

Rodger Knox has it just right. I like to laminate necks and I orient my laminations so that the grain is quartered. If the grain in my laminations is somewhat off quarter, I flip one piece end for end and try to get the grain orientation in one half to mirror (to oppose) the grain in the other half. This is probably not always necessary. It is just something that I do because I like it that way. In the attached photo, you'll see a laminated neck made of three walnut pieces with mahogany veneers sandwiched in between. You can see that the grain orientation is fairly vertical, with the slightly off-quarter pieces all opposing each other. This neck is now seven years old and it has been very stable.

Ah, think I understand... So you laminated 3 boards to create the total width of the neck. I take it you do a "single piece" style neck for the heel rather than a stacked heel? (IE band saw out the whole neck and heel profile.)

Am I understanding correctly?

Nate

In Pennsylvania, you should be able to find small sawmills that will cut anything you want. I am in southern Michigan and there are several loggers who also saw the logs into lumber. It might involve a drive in the country, but once you find one or two you will be in lumber acquisition syndrome heaven.

I've found quartersawn clear walnut at Keim lumber listed as gunstock blanks.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Yes, exactly. I use a hybrid laminate/scarf headstock joint, scroll about halfway down on the second page to see how it's cut and glued.
viewtopic.php?f=10133&t=37283

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

If you can get 12/4 flatsawn, you can set it up on the short side and call it quarter sawn. One 12/4 board makes a lot of necks. Be sure to look for straight grain.

Nate, I cut my laminations to allow for the heel block. The lamination runs right down through the heel. You can nest two or three (depending on the thickness of your flat stock) of these lams onto a short board about six or seven inches wide and just a little longer than your overall neck--including your dovetail or bolt tenon. Then you cut your headstock "ears" out of the waste. You can certainly add the heel later and many people do that. But I wanted my lamination stripes to run all the way down to my heel cap. (Once again, I have uploaded my photos in reverse order, so view from bottom to top).

Nate, I have lots of wood. Including quarter sawn 4/4 walnut. The guys are right most folks will cut flat sawn and turn it up and laminate it. I ship wood 3-4 times a week to builders of dulcimers, guitars, mandolins and other instruments. If you really need some quarter sawn. Give me a call at 618/996-2278. if no answer just leave a message and I will get back with you.