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I'm considering building my first guitar and have looked into guitar kits from Stewart MacDonald. But being the kind of guy that prefers to do things the hard way, I want to build some of the parts myself - partly to save cost and partly to make it my own.

My question is; Why do guitar necks tend to be made from a single piece of mahogany?

It seems to me that it would be cheaper and less wasteful to glue pieces together. I think it would be just as strong. Am I wrong, or is the one piece method just old school with no other benefit than being traditional?

Thanks,

Doug Collins

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My first electric guitar used this method, to good effect. I took 3/4 slab cut, black walnut stock, laminated a thin contrasting veneer between the plies, and voila! a quartersawn neck. The headstock/neck has held up very well for 30 years, now. Trying to find stock in excess of 8/4 can be prohibitively expensive (My dad won't cough up any of his 16/4 Honduras to me).
Hi Doug -- You are correct in thinking that it would be more cost sffictive
to make a neck out of more than one piece of wood-- Gibson I believe has been doing this for some time now (correction accepted),
but if Im not mistaken I believe that sound travels thru a single piece of wood better than a layered piece of wood (correction accepted here too)
hope this helps you out :)
Donald
Hi Donald,

You may be right that sound travels through a solid piece better than a layered piece, but how much does the neck affect the sound? I thought all the sound was transmitted through the bridge to the body.

Thanks,

Doug Collins
Hi Doug-- I have a good friend that lives in the next town to me,
and he is a verry good mandolin and uke maker, he gave me a lil demonstration one day and told me to scratch the head stock on this uke that he was making while I was holding it with my thumb and fore finger at the first fret, and listen to
the sound that I heard in at the sound hole on the top of the uke,,,, and I'll be dipped if I didnt hear the scratch sound verry well at the sound hole-- now heres my theroy ---- any vibration made on the neck, like striking a string is going to be transfered to the body, then to the ear of the player (corrections accepted here)----

Donald
I hear what you're saying (no pun intended). Perhaps the neck doesn't form the sound, but it can affect it negatively - such as string noise? But doesn't that support the opposite about what you're saying about solid wood transmitting sound better. Maybe you don't want to transmit the sound?

Thanks,

Doug Collins
"The sound a neck makes" debate will never be over.
If the way you make a neck affects the sound, which sounds "better"?
What if it turns out a particle-board neck is chosen in a blind listening test? Are you changing over?

There are several ways to build a good neck. A builder makes "his" neck, and his guitars make "his" sound.

The public wants a solid one-piece neck, by and large. But they are now going to have to pay a significant up-charge for it, or accept change.

It seems to me, by what I see people playing, if your guitar sounds good, someone will play it, regardless of it's construction features.
It is an interesting debate and I'm happy to hear more of it, but want I really want to know right now is which way the grain should run, solid or mulitple piece.

There are a lot of things that will affect the sound of a guitar, but my concern for the neck is mainly that it is strong and stable. I believe a multiple piece neck can achieve this, but I can't help to believe the direction of the grain is a significant factor.

Thanks. I really appreciate all the advice.

Doug Collins
Hi Doug - From what I understand the grain in a guitar neck should as you look at go from north to south -- for instance -- if you have a piece of quartered wood and it is 1.25 inches thick and 4 inches wide then the grain should run on the 1.25 inch size-- or if you put it down on a table and it is 1.25 inches from the table top to the top of the piece of wood then the grain should run from 6 to 12 O'clock-- hope I said this rite because sometimes I have a hard time describing something...
Donald
Thank you Donald. I think you have described it well. Thank you for your patience. The question that remains I think is best described with drawings. The first drawing shows two grain directions.

I believe you are saying that drawing "A" is the correct choice: (grain.jpg)

So if I am going to build up a heel, should I do it a depicted in the next drawing? (grain-builtup.jpg)

Thanks very much,

Doug Collins
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Hey Doug the pic.that is labled grain jpg.24KB is correct. I also do make necks with layers of different woods like Richard mentioned. I usually just make necks for solid body guitars rather than acustics,and they bolt on to the body in a neck pocket that is 3" long X 2-1/4 wide and 5/8deep.
I just got finished with a neck that is made up of 5 layers of wood.. 3 maple and 2 mahogony..
good luck with your project and lets see some pics when you "get er done" OK?
Donald
Thanks Donald, I think I got it now. I'm ready to begin.

I'm going to build a bolt on neck, so it will be easy to replace. If the neck doesn't hold up I can just built another - maybe out of a 2x4!

I most certainly will make the pictures available when I'm done. I plan on chronicling the process on my website. I'll send a link.

Thanks very much for all the help,

Doug Collins
I thought I was ready to go but I've come to a full stop again. I feel like I'm really beleaguering this point, but I'm still not clear.

I have resolved to built a laminated neck with a built-up heel, but don't think my understanding of grain orientation is correct. I set out to purchase wood stock thinking the grain would run the same for a one piece as it would for a built up heel (as in the above image - grain-builtup.jpg). But now I don't see how that can be correct, because that seems like the same as gluing end grin together - which doesn't work well.

I also gather that a 3 or 5 piece laminated neck is not necessarily the same construction as the built-up method.

I have attached a couple new drawing of how I propose neck construction to be:

builtupheelA.jpg is how I think it should go, but perhaps it is actually better to purchase flatsawn stock and go with method B as in builtupheelB.jpg

I think I'm probably making this more complicated that it needs to be, but I'd really appreciate you guys setting me straight on this.

Thanks,

Doug
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