Official Luthiers Forum!

Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 9:16 am
Posts: 235
Location: Portland, OR
Hi folks, looking to finish up my second electric in the next couple weeks and I have my eyes on building some SG's this next round. I've been getting wood prices from one of our suppliers and the price of alder is pretty appealing. Being that every SG I've ever seen has the same wood for bodies and necks, I've begun pondering alder as a neck wood. I know it's not as dense as maple or mahogany but I'm thinking of trying it with some CF reinforcement. Any opinions?

No opinion on the Alder, but please post some build pictures!
Dan

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Carvin has used alder in one of their artist models for several years, so at least one manufacturer thinks it's a viable neck wood.

http://www.carvinguitars.com/catalog/guitars/h2

One of the things I've heard about alder is that it's sometimes difficult to get it free of knots, etc., so you'd have to be picky on the neck stock, IMHO.
I'd use it, no problem.

_________________
Mike

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

yeah I'll stick well clear of knotty alder, cutting that stuff is like making cross country skis. I did see that Carvin has made necks with it, but it sounds like they're using a special "H" style truss rod and a two piece laminated neck. It's kind of a modified I-beam with a hollow channel that the truss rod passes through. I think I would be fine with a double CF rod on either side of a normal hot rod type double action rod. Should be an interesting project.

Yeah, the Holdsworth guitars are a heavy collaboration with Holdsworth, and he is a very particular guy, with his own ideas of what makes a guitar for his particular style.
But I have used mahogany, maple, chestnut and cherry for necks, with a simple single action rod. No problems with any of them.
When you look at the long history of guitars, woods like Spanish cedar, and even Birch, have been used on acoustics through the years with good results long before carbon fiber existed. I'd use alder in a heartbeat. I think you'll find it works just fine, especially for an electric, carbon fiber or not.
As a matter of fact, there are builders out there now using woods that would never even have been thought of 10 years ago, with good success. I'll try just about anything in guitar building once. You never know until you do.

_________________
Mike

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

I have a set of flatsawn Alder planks I was thinking about gluing up into a neckthrough blank.

Seems like a light weight but strong set of beams, I anticipate no problems.

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

well this is all very positive feedback, I'm gonna pull the trigger and pick some up tomorrow!

Cool! I'd be interested in your impressions once you build a couple of necks with it.

_________________
Mike

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

I'll be sure to start a new thread when I get there. Thanks for the feedback!

Alright, got 40 bd ft of 8/4 clear alder today plus 3.5 bd ft of Bolivian rosewood for fret boards. It'll be a couple weeks before I can get going on this, have to finish up my current LP DC first, but I will post pics when I get to it!