Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Wiley Rutledge on February 28, 2012 at 8:29am

On a 3 or 4 string you should be OK with a hard pine (like yellow pine here in the states) that has defined relatively straight grain, especially if you can orient it so that the grain is vertical to the box. This gives a stronger neck than if you go with a flat grain. 

Permalink Reply by Tom Caneschi aka cbg tom on February 28, 2012 at 8:49am

Are you going to use a hard wood for a fret board over the neck ?

 Are you going to laminate it ? If so that will help to make it stronger...

Permalink Reply by Swamp Dawg Primal Music on February 28, 2012 at 9:11am

No, just a straight pine stick, I don't know how to laminate. I was thinking of using a 1 cm thicker slab (4cmX3cm instead of 4cmX2cm), and cutting a groove in it at the box so I can swap it out if I ever find some hard wood. By the way, I'll be playing fretless slide, so a small amount of bowing should be OK, a couple of mm, but I don't want it to get too bowed over time. It'll be a 3 stringer.

Permalink Reply by William McCauley on February 28, 2012 at 9:22am

Laminating is not difficult. Just lay two boards together with the grain running in opposite directions and glue and clamp together. This is what I would do with pine. Also, I would not be as worried about the strength of the board as much as warpage. Lamination will help for both problems. Use good quality wood glue (I have no clue what is available in Italy) like yellow Titebond. Remember, a thin coat is better than a thick one. If you have gobs of glue flowing out of the joint when clamping, you have used too much. I hope that this helps you. 

Permalink Reply by PhilUSAFRet on February 28, 2012 at 11:20am

Hmm, how about chestnut, larch, olivewood, and walnut?  Problem might be finding some that isn't green

Permalink Reply by Steve wootten on February 28, 2012 at 11:33am

just an idea but u may want to contact guido from verona he's the guy who wrote the "low tech" whistle how to make a pvc whistle. i dont know what kind of wood he's makeing his fipples out of but generly that part is made of hard wood so u can try this i think its right http://www.ggwhistles.com/howto/ i think its right if not post back and ill look him up the hard way.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on February 28, 2012 at 4:39pm

I agree with the people who suggest laminating. You could also use splines to reinforce the neck.  I'll attach a photo of my spline reinforcement. Another thing that you can do is look at the ends of the boards you are inspecting and look for the straightest grain and the tightest grain. See what varieties of pine are available to you and then do some research on the web about those varieties. There are some varieties of pine that are exceptionally strong.  What are you going to use for a fretboard?  

Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on February 28, 2012 at 4:40pm

Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on February 28, 2012 at 4:43pm

Another thought is to find a piano dealer and ask if you can have the wood from their piano crates.  I know some European piano manufacturers use beech in their piano crates and beech is very similar to rock maple in strength and stiffness.  I produced enough beech splines this evening to reinforce 8 necks

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on February 28, 2012 at 5:36pm

Or any importer of large machinery. I get a lot of necks from the bearers in crates. Most big warehouses will happily let you dig thru the dumpster if u ask nicely

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on March 2, 2012 at 2:14pm

shipping pallets... almost always of some native hard wood.   and by the time the pallet get to you (cut down the stringers to dimension on a table saw) it is, shall we say, "well tempered"...

 

good luck,

 

Wichita Sam

Permalink Reply by Swamp Dawg Primal Music on March 2, 2012 at 9:55pm

Here they're all cheap, crappy broken pine, full of knots (got tons at my work). I've gone a bunch of places, and gotten nowhere finding anything but pine, so it'll have to make do. I got a thicker piece, 3cmX4cm, got a nice chunky feel to it. It's got about a millimeter of back bow over 1 meter, so I'll use that to my advantage and let the strings pull it out. I'll keep looking for the future, but for this one it'll have to do.

If anyone in the European Union wants to find me a good neck plank and send it, I'll kiss you (and pay you for it)!

Thanks y'all!

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