Necks, Quartersawn or not?

Sambostar · July 2023

I got enough old 3" x 3" mahogany to make a couple of necks with a straight two way truss rod rout. The grain goes diagonally though, corner to corner, I suppose that makes it riftsawn, so quarter sawn would effectively mean losing all the width and thickness. I see all the new Mexican Charvel pro mods often have flat sawn necks, but they're maple. Just worried about things twisting as been told not to? Any thoughts? Really want to make a LP Junior neck as can't find any decent ones for cheap with fret dots. Is it worth just selecting a bit of 3" x 3" Sapele quarter sawn from the Timber yard instead?

Winny_Pooh · July 2023

If you want to make a junior neck then laminate it with 3 pieces with opposing grain direction and it'll be tougher too.

Most classic Fenders with maple have flat sawn necks.

WezV · July 2023

With mahogany you do want the grain as quartered as possible, or need to laminate. My last couple of reclaimed mahogany necks have cut cut into 2 pieces with the grain balanced between the 2

We have to be careful with the terms these days as Fender CS actively sell their "quartersawn" necks as "rift sawn".

They are using the term from the sawyers perspective, not the wood workers.

Wazmeister · July 2023

A yes from me… most necks that ive played/owned have been quartersawn.

Danielsguitars · July 2023

I've got 2 limba neck blanks that are more rift than quatersawn so I'll cut them down the middle and flip one and glue back together.

I also had a big Spanish cedar neck blank that was rift made into quatersawn, it was more than big enough though, I didn't do this I had David Dyke do it while I was buying wood.

Sambostar · July 2023

Didn't think of laminating, I was thinking I wanted a voluttte or scarf joint anyway as I don't want it to break. I'II take that approach then, thanks all.

Roland · July 2023

@WezV @Danielsguitars How would you cut and rotate this piece of walnut?

It’s 20mm thick. The angled sides are caused by the camera angle. This end with the radial lines will be cut off.

WezV · July 2023

I would cut straight down the middle and flip one side lengthways giving V grain at the ends

Roland · July 2023

I was thinking three pieces: A B C. Put A in the middle, C on the left, and flip B on the right. I’ve been given some darker Walnut veneer, which I’m thinking of using as laminate between the sections. Am I over complicating?

WezV · July 2023

that will work too. it will certainly look nice - consider flipping A 90 degrees to get that section quartered, or near as damn it

Danielsguitars · July 2023

Roland said:

@WezV @Danielsguitars How would you cut and rotate this piece of walnut?

It’s 20mm thick. The angled sides are caused by the camera angle. This end with the radial lines will be cut off.

I would do as @WezV said or if you had another piece the same glue both together with the grain going inwards with another laminate in the middle.

I really like 3 piece laminates, I've been using flat sawn roasted maple and flipping it so it's quatersawn, if you get a plank it works out fairly cheap too.

WezV · July 2023

Here you go, B flipped for a 2 piece

Or the 3 pieces rotated for best grain in a 3-piece (B and C could be positioned a number of ways, but the aim is as mirrored as possible)

Sporky · July 2023

Does this apply equally to (say) maple, or us it more important with mahogany on account of the latter is less strong in general?

WezV · July 2023

Sporky said:

Does this apply equally to (say) maple, or us it more important with mahogany on account of the latter is less strong in general?

not equally, but it does still apply to all woods

If mixing woods in the neck you have to be aware of how weird grain in the stronger bits can influence the good grain in weaker bits.

Having said this, you can still have a perfectly grained neck go bad on you. Grain is just one part of the story.

WezV · July 2023

It's a good idea to cut neck blanks to rough dimensions early, and let them settle a few weeks before building. Release as much tension as you can at each stage and let it sit to see if it moves of its own accord

Sporky · July 2023

Ta.

Danielsguitars · July 2023

Keeping the wood somewhere with consistent humidity too, I aim for a constant 50%, it helps lessen any future movement.

guitargeek62 · July 2023

WezV said:

It's a good idea to cut neck blanks to rough dimensions early, and let them settle a few weeks before building. Release as much tension as you can at each stage and let it sit to see if it moves of its own accord

Yup - Hamer were great for this, they used to let their necks sit for weeks (months??) between each stage of the build, squaring them off and correcting any movement each time. If I remember rightly, they often used an AB(flipped)C approach too as an added mitigant.

Roland · July 2023

It’s something I noticed on @GSPBASSES necks I’ve seen. Although the timber is quartersawn it was still ABCd for stiffness and stability.

The follow up on my piece of Walnut is that I sliced it and found woodworm holes. Now in the outside bin, with sawdust vacuumed.

DartmoorHedgehog · July 2023

Hmmm - reading this makes me feel extremely lucky that the only mahogany neck I've made seems to be very stable. I made it out of an old "mahogany" (no idea what actual species) window sill that I just cut to size and used. I checked that the grain was generally parallel to the length of the neck but never thought about the grain direction through the depth of the neck.

I think I have tended to over-build the necks on stringed instruments I've made, and this one has got quite a thick fretboard and a truss rod, so perhaps that's helped - or perhaps it was just beginner's luck with the wood.

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Necks, Quartersawn or not?

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