Laminated Guitar Necks

[Tod Gilding]

I have some flat sawn Fiji mahogany (swietenia Macrophyllia) on hand, 2@ 100mm wide x 35mm thick x 1.5m long. I want to use it for laminated necks possibly with other species added to the laminate for contrast and also possibly carbon fibre tow.
A look around the internet shows many different methods used regarding the way this can be done. Can anyone with experience point me in the right direction with regard to grain orientation and construction that you have found worked well. I am just looking for strong stable necks. thanks

[DarwinStrings]

Just roughly and briefly Tod, if you say take a piece of 50 x 35 backsawn and saw it up the middle leaving two bits at 25 x 35. Hmm tricky to put in words. Place the two bits on the bench as if they were still not sawn. You will be viewing a backsawn face with the saw cut in the centre. Then fold those faces you can see together so they become the glue line. You will now be viewing the quarter sawn faces with the glue line up the centre and end up with a 70 x 25 piece of quarter sawn wood. This method makes for a very stable bit of wood as any will to distort in the two pieces oppose each other and cancel each other out. hope that makes sense to you.

Jim

[Tod Gilding]

That makes perfect sense Jim Thankyou very much

[demonx]

A couple years ago on a multi laminate neck I used tassy Blackwood, ebony, Indian rosewood and qld maple all together. It looked great and I grain filled and sealed it with 2k clear as I was doing at the time.

Over time the clear has sunk into the grain and when playing the neck you can now feel joints of different timbers. At the time of completion it felt perfect.

I do not finish this way anymore - I grain fill and seal with west systems epoxy and then clear coat with 2k. I'm getting better finishes that do not sink over time. Well, not yet but I suppose if I look at done in a few years time will tell.

Food for thought. Search the forum for "47 pieces of ugly" and you'll see my most recent multi lam neck which was finished as described above.

[demonx]

As far as how I arrange the timber, I usually buy planks that are flat sawn.

Ill cut the flat plank into three, turn the middle piece end to end and then tilt them from horizontal to vertical to firm the 3 piece blank.

If I'm making it more decorative than 3 piece, I still use the above as the base and then the middle bits are just fill.

This way you have a neck where if any single piece wants to move, it has two laminated pieces to fight against. I find them much more stable and rigid than a one or two piece. You definitely notice a difference when you put strings on and set up the guitar. It creates a much more rock solid neck

Also, using Fiji mahog, its very soft. I once put two ebony strips in a Fiji mahog 3 pice neck (making it a 5pc) and the neck became rigid like steel and went on what became one of my favourite builds, which has played/toured all over this country without issue. So there are ways to stiffen soft timber

[Tod Gilding]

Thanks Steve , I usually finish my necks with an oil or French polish also I was planning on carbon fibre tow laid as close to where my hand will travel as possible without it becoming visible ie routing a shallow channel in the glue surface that will obviously need to step closer to the fingerboard with each laminate.

[Phil Mailloux]

A couple years ago on a multi laminate neck I used tassy Blackwood, ebony, Indian rosewood and qld maple all together. It looked great and I grain filled and sealed it with 2k clear as I was doing at the time.

Over time the clear has sunk into the grain and when playing the neck you can now feel joints of different timbers. At the time of completion it felt perfect.

I think you'll find that this wasn't caused by the lacquer but by the different density woods all absorbing moisture at different rates

[demonx]

I think you'll find that this wasn't caused by the lacquer but by the different density woods all absorbing moisture at different rates

Yes, that part is obvious, but I was suggesting the op will want a finish that will not reveal this and keep the finish perfectly smooth.