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I would like to start building my own necks. Any suggestions on a material I should use to practice on before cutting in to good wood. Or any techniques I should try. This is all new to me.

Home Depot/Menards sell planed, sanded wood for trimwork, in various sizes, individually shrink wrapped. they carry mahogany(i guess it is probably sapelle but it looks like mahogany to me), maple, oak, walnut, and poplar. it will make perfectly servicable necks, but nothing big enough there for one piece construction.
...not sure what you mean by "good" wood, but the aforementioned is perfectly clear of knots and most of it is straight

What I meant was I will do a few dry runs on practice necks that I won't use until I feel they are good enough to a neck then I will make one to use with my good stash.

2x4s work well for practicing on. The only problem with them is that the wood doesn't carve the same as maple or other hardwoods that are used in necks. They are cheap though and the rest of the process is the same regardless of that. And you can have several practice runs on one 8' piece that costs right around $2.

Thank you Steve. I was wondering about 2x4's. i actually have allot of them. I will start there.

Why not just use Maple?

Pine isn't going to machine like Maple.

It's not like it's super expensive...and...what do you have when you've finally made a good neck out of lousy wood?

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

If I can find it cheap enough I will do that.

You have the process down. Now when you do get that maple(or mahogany, or whatever else) you can produce a decent quality of work that you can actually use.
As to pine not machining like maple, no it doesn't. And maple doesn't machine like mahogany, mohogany doesn't machine like walnut, etc. Every wood is different to work, pretty much.
I did my first couple from Lowes poplar. They even have 1/4" thick wood you can use as a mock fretboard blank. It was a useful experience, and when I finally built a neck out of hardwood I had one done right, and that I could actually be proud of.
The difference between the working properties of softwood vs hardwood when learning to rout a truss rod, cut a scarf joint, carve a neck, etc, is not much of an obstacle or impediment to learning. The hardwood's just a little harder, but it's not very different than switching from one "real" neck wood to another. They're all different and require a little different approach, regardless.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Can walnut be used as neck wood?

Walnut makes a wonderful neck. So does cherry.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Maybe I am just stoopidd but I say be brave... Just my opinion, but with care and taking your time, it's not as tricky as it appears.... My second completed guitar was an electric bass with flamed maple and bubinga through neck.. (Thread on here) - all I used was an ancient spoke shave, rasp and the usual papers... Made up some cardboard templates for profile at frets 1, 5,12 etc and just took my time... Came out good... I actually sanded down to 250 grit before the final profile was completed to get the feel - took a bit more off and so on... Best part of building and most fun;-)

I like doing practice runs on things I'm not sure of. Before I started inlaying I did several practice runs inlaying in ash, then oak, then maple, then Zebra wood. Before I inlayed my fret board. I would rather practice on a few first. I think I am that way because of my O.C.D..

I use to use maple or poplar that I got from the Home depot or Lowes as practice wood. I have even used some oak I had laying around...MIke

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

Here's how I laminate a neck from HD 1x6 maple. The photos are an acoustic neck, the electric is similiar.

Here's the 1x6 with all the pieces cut. This arangement takes a flatsawn board and makes a quartersawn blank.

And here's how they fit together.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

my first neck that I ever made is on my first ever guitar. I think it was a lot easier to make than what I'd expected, but I'd say just really think through the process before you start paring it down.

Practice Shmactice!! Carving a neck is much easier than you might think. I would start with the material you want for a neck and plan to use it at the end.

I like the idea for the laminates neck. It would turn flat sawn wood into quarter wasn wood.