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Pardon the newbie question but up until this point I've only built acoustic & classicals. I have a beautiful plank of African Mahogany that has been sitting in my shop for about the last 12 yrs. It is 48 x 19 x 1 3/4.

My son is a professional musician (electric guitar) and he now has the bug to build his own. I told him he could use the plank that I have but the question is; does the grain have to run North-South in a solid body Strat type guitar? It may be possible to yield more bodies out of this plank by running cross-grain or angular depending on what outline he decides to use. He may even want to mix and match with a Les Paul or flying vee also. I'm not sure of the advantages or disadvantages. I would value your input.

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Peter

Run grain parallel to string and neck orientation.... to avoid controversy. You probably have enough to make a couple bodies and a couple necks... or at least 3 bodies (unless you make all Vees or Explorers). Post pix and reports as you proceed.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Hi Peter: Grain parallel for sure. You could nest the blanks to get more yield.

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The reason the grain must run longways is so it is best positioned to resist years of 150 lb string tension...... If the grain were to run across the tension it would eventually curl up.

I always find knowing why to do something of more value than simply knowing what to do.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

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