Maple neck alternatives?

[stairway2000]

please help me out here. i have been searching all over the internet to find out why maple is used in necks because i want to make my own neck. i don't care about tonal quality or what the wood looks like i just want to know what kind of structural properties it has that make it a good choice so i can find a wood with the same properties myself. is it because it holds its shape and doesn't bend easily? is it because its strong and nothing else? why maple?

I live in the uk so all the standard woods used in guitar necks are stupidly expensive to buy so i want to find a british wood that will do the job. please help.

[sean413]

Most people use maple cause its a super dense wood that doesn't warp and isn't porous. Also it can be light weight...

I've seen people make necks out of oak with out truss Rods. I'd say you just wanna make sure whatever type of wood you use is dense and a hard wood preferably lite too.

[stairway2000]

any thoughts on beech or birch? we have plenty of that in the uk. i've heard of bodies made from it but not necks is there a reason for this?

[rexter]

any thoughts on beech or birch? we have plenty of that in the uk. i've heard of bodies made from it but not necks is there a reason for this?

I think old Hagstrom guitars used birch - though I'm not sure if that was for the necks too or just their semi hollow bodies. Any way, their insane truss rod means their necks can last almost forever!

[percnon]

Are maple neck blanks really that expensive? £24 here.

http://www.tonetechluthiersupplies.co.u ... uitar.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Doesn't seem like that much for a decent bit of timber. That said, if you're using a truss rod you should be able to use a lot of woods. If you want something native then walnut is often used for necks. Strong, lightweight and similar tonal properties to maple.

[danbind]

I have heard that plywood can make a good neck, as all the laminating gives it strength (did I read that here somewhere? ).

I have also seen osage orange used, as it is incredibly springy. It is also very hard to work. It tends to be twisty--not sure how hard it is to get a straight piece.

[kdanie]

I've heard of necks made from walnut, rose wood, mahogany, spanish cedar and others.

ken

[percnon]

Yeah, generally not cheap woods. Not many species are strong, hard, resistant to warping and reasonably lightweight. If you want to go cheaper than standard hard maple then plywood could be a good bet. You could always just glue a bunch of scraps together and do it for nothing! Experiment!

[ludobag1]

walnut is a little soft then in laminate is better
lot of wood could make neck in laminate cause a laminate neck is more rigid and less wrapping than one piece

[sean413]

I'm sure you could use birch fine. I'd say alil google search for wood strength/ hardness might be in order


http://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[stairway2000]

nice find on that hardness chart. shame it's not got many british woods on there.

[rexter]

nice find on that hardness chart. shame it's not got many british woods on there.

so many reasons to smirk when you're a drunk, puerile guy like me!

[Addam]

To the OP, where are you looking for your wood?
Anywhere selling 'body blanks' or 'neck blanks' seems to charge a shed load.
I buy timber from a local timber yard, I got a board of sapelle big enough for about 7 1pce bodies for less than £60.
Poplar works out at about £6 per body.
When I eventually get my act together and start building necks, I'll get wood for that from there too.

Back to the original question, I read that sycamore is essentially the euro equivalent of maple.

[stairway2000]

these were my thoughts too. it seems to cost so much if the wood is earmarked for "guitar building" why not just get it from a regular timber merchent? and so yes i have been heavily reaserching "why Maple?" because i'm sure there are perfectly good alternatives that are cheeper and more available from british lumber yards. i see neck blanks for around £20-£25 for maple but buying maple planks that you can get a bunch of necks out of will only set you back £10 or so. i'm new to the building game but it seems mad to me. thanks for the point on Sycamore though. i've heard that a few times now and it seems to be a viable alternative and far cheeper.