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Maple Necks?
http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=13730		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  KenH [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:22 pm ]
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I am wondering if any of you use maple necks for your acoustic guitars?


I have been using mahogany necks exclusively, but I may have a source for maple necks as well... just curious if I am wasting my time on maple as a neck material?


If you had a maple neck, would you use it? if not, why?


 I'm full of questions tonight


By the way, this would be a non-figured neck out of eastern maple.
Author:  A Peebels [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:26 pm ]
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I've used maple on several guitars and basses with good results. I'm working on a maple neck for an electric banjo right now.

Al
Author:  Brock Poling [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:01 pm ]
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I have used maple lots of times, it works great.

Author:  Bobc [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:41 pm ]
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Ken no problems with maple. Other woods that work just fine are cherry, walnut, and Spanish cedar.
Author:  KenH [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:32 pm ]
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Thats what I needed to know! Thanks everybody!!
Author:  Anthony Z [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:22 pm ]
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Ken, I see that you've got the answers you wanted. For what it's worth, Archtop builders have used maple for necks almost exclusively. I've got a Grenadillo (sp?) bodied SJ flattop with a curly maple neck and it sounds great.

Downside with maple is that it is much heavier than mahogany and more work to carve especially if you use maple with any figure.

A number of builders advocate using mahogany over maple for sonic reasons. Given that mahogany is going to be more difficult to obtain in the future I'd heed Bob's suggestion and use cherry or walnut before switching to maple.
Author:  Arnt Rian [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:28 pm ]
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Sure it works, take a look at every Fender guitar made, all those arch top guitars, all violin family instruments, arch top mandolin family instrumnts, not to mention many acustic guitars... One thing to consider is the weight though; maple is heavier than mahogany. And plain figure is more stable than curly (which you already know).
Author:  Arnt Rian [ Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:30 pm ]
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There I go typing too slowly again! Glad to see we agree though, Anthony.
Author:  Michael Dale Payne [ Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:04 am ]
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I have one coming u this month that will use a Curly Maple neck. Like others have said, No Problems Maun!
Author:  Dennis Leahy [ Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:00 am ]
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Ken,

Sounds like you already have a neck blank in one of the species growing in the eastern US, but I'm not sure if that is Hard (Sugar), or one of the Eastern Soft Maples.

I'll offer this info, FWIW:

I knew about using Hard Maple in guitar/bass necks, but was unsure about using Soft Maple. I asked the question here, and received thumbs up from a number of luthiers that have used it.

It's true that Hard Maple is denser/heavier than Honduras Mahogany, but Soft Maple is nearly identical to Mahogany in density. So, if you use Soft Maple, your neck won't be heavier.

I am convinced that laminated necks offer the best of many worlds: stability, beauty, and availability. It is very difficult to find 4" x 3" material of any species that is cut quartersawn and has been dried properly. Quartersawn 5/4 blanks for scarf + stacked heel necks are easier to come by, but... With a laminated neck, you don't have to mess with a scarf joint or a stacked heel, and any figure in the wood flows perfectly into the heel. It is relatively easy to find a flatsawn board that is about 8" x about 26", rip it in half and glue the faces (with an additional stripe/stripes of flatsawn material in between to make the correct sandwich thickness), resulting in a quartersawn blank from which you can bandsaw 2 necks. Theoretically, (and by all reports), by ripping that one 8" wide board and rotating it, any stresses in the wood will be met with an opposing force, and the neck stays stable.

That stripe or stripes of material down the middle of a laminated Maple neck is also an opportunity to introduce a color that helps tie the aesthetics of the neck/head and body/binding together.

Show us your neck when you carve it!

Dennis
Author:  KenH [ Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:55 am ]
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Thanks again for the advise and experiences! This was just what I was looking for.


Keep in mind that I own several portable sawmills, and I have contacts and friends world wide of others that also own portable sawmills. I sometimes come across woods (and logs) that will fit my needs, and I can get them sawn any way I want. I have a great knowledge of how to properly dry woods also since I have been in the wood business for quite some time.


In this case, the log I have come across is one that is too short to be of any commercial value, but is rather large in diameter. I have an offer to have this wood sawn into neck blanks, any size and grain orientaation I desire. I just wasnt sure if a maple neck was acceptable. This log is a silver maple and the other portions of the log revealed some light figuring. The person who is cutting the wood just hates to see it go to waste and thoguht I could make some use of it. Now I know that I can! It will be quite some time before I can get the wood dry enough to use, so dont expect to see anything right away. I will have this all cut into 3x4" cants, with the grain running parallel to the 4" side of the block. This will produce "quarter sawn" neck blanks at some future date.


I have a lot of room to store wood. This will go into my stash of wood to be used or sold at some future date. Most of what I have been acquiring will not be useable for years to come, but includes a lot of domestic woods such as cherry, hickory, maple, Ash, Osage Orange, etc. This wood is being cut quarter sawn, and specifically in sizes for use in musical instruments and is being stacked and stickered in my wood barn which has been treated to avoid wood eating insects.


As woods like Mahogany become more scarce and expensive, I am hoping that what I am doing now will be able to fill the gap in the future. I am hoping that these woods will be a good retirement income at some later date.


Thanks again for the information!
Author:  Glenn LaSalle [ Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:20 am ]
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I had a John Greven "The Greven" NL Model with maple neck.  Looked stunning with the sunburst.  As a player, I liked it just fine.


Glenn
Author:  FishtownMike [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:07 am ]
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I have a all curly maple body and curly maple neck jumbo 12 string. It is beautiful but it is so neck heavy that its dificuilt to play standing up.
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