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Hi guys, building a classical style guitar and want to laminate the neck. Spanish Cedar with Wenge most likely. I'll be making a scarf joint.
Can I start with a 1x3 neck blank, quarter sawn, glue the heel block then saw to laminate?
I've seen a few post that recommend using flatsawn neck blanks then rotating to make quarter sawn.
Hibdon has a good deal on neck blanks with heel blocks right now, but they're quarter sawn, not flat sawn.
Trying to a avoid starting from a billet, more expensive and wastes some material in my opinion.
Always thankful for your help,
Raúl

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Yes, you can do it that way. Depending on the grain orientation, Wenge doesn't have the best split resistance, so I might pick a different center lamination.

I'm open to suggestions. Sides will be Ziricote, top will be cedar. Would like some nice contrast.

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Ipe (Brazilian walnut) is a dark, strong and stiff low cost tropical hardwood often sold for decking and flooring. Jatoba (Brazilian cherry) might also be a good choice. American black walnut could also work, but wouldn't add as much stiffness as the other woods would.

I do nothing but scarfed head necks now days but frankly I would not attempt it with a laminated neck (I assume you are talking about one or more center pieces with something different on the sides like the picture below). Normally with a scarfed joint you have a little seam where the head joins the neck stick but it is pretty easy to hide or at least make it unobtrusive. I think it would be a nightmare to try to cut off the head, flip it over and get everything to line up to carry the laminations thru the joint. If I really wanted a three (or 5 or 7...) piece laminated neck I would probably make it thick enough to saw cut the head in the traditional fashion.

This neck is maple in the center, a couple of black offset lines and mahogany on the outside.

I've laminated necks with Walnut as it's stable and beautiful - would use it again. Also if you laminate with equal sized pieces throughout it's easy to align all the lams by lining up a single side, which aligns all the lams for a scarf joint. All the lams at the joints are hidden in a scarf joint as well but easy to line up with carefully laminated neck stock...

Even done stacked heels after laminating, instead of stacking then laminating (mainly because I didn't think of laminating after stacking the heel) but not that hard to get right, again if all your lams are equal...

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Thank You and Best To All

If you wanted to do a stacked heel and a scarf and had a saw with a blade big enough you COULD glue it all up THEN cut it down the middle on a fence, but that would be a lot of exposed blade. I don’t see why you couldn’t do it on a bandsaw I guess if you didn’t have any blade float from one side or the other.


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Assuming you have the scarf joint and heel block glued on, but the blank otherwise left "square" lengthwise you can rip it down the middle on a 10 inch table saw with a moderately high blade, and finish up the last little bit of the uncut heel with a hand saw and block plane. Be sure to use a couple of push sticks and don't stand directly behind the blade (a good practice anyway). If you start the cut at the heel end, the small uncut section at the top of the heel will help keep things together.

Another approach you might consider is to only laminate the center portion of the neck. That is, go ahead and cut your scarf joint and the stacked heel pieces. Then, laminate the middle portion (quarter sawn is fine). You will have to trim down the sides of the middle portion to fit the headstock and heel, but it works.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I made two laminated necks out of two already-assembled and rough-shaped necks when I wanted to use a wider fingerboard than the original necks, being cut to finished width, could support (I bought them in that condition). I ripped both necks down the middle on my table saw. I had a bit of an adventure cutting the heel, but patience seemed to pay off and the results were quite usable. The necks were then wide enough to support the fingerboard width I wanted to use. I inserted a rosewood center lamination bordered with maple veneer into each of these two cherry necks. I was very pleased with the results.

And these were the first two necks I ever made. Sure got a lot of experience solving unique little problems.

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Peter Havriluk

Wanted to follow up on this....I decided to laminate the 2 necks I'll be working on ( one mahogany, one cedar) with Peruvian Walnut. Picked up this piece this morning. It's 3/4 thick. It's reading at 7%on my moister reader.
My plan is to slice the Walnut to make 2 laminates on each neck. I'd flip the pieces to have them counteract each other if they want to warp. Each laminate piece will probably be 1/4"-3/8"??? Haven't decided yet. Once I get them down to that thickness, will 7% be ok?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Jus a little more info since this thread is a bit old, I'm building 2 classical/ crossover guitars.
Thanks again,
Raúl

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