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Poplar for a neck?

I just built my first CBG a couple weeks ago and kinda cheated a bit since i used a bolt on neck from an electric guitar. I'm pretty proud of it and it looks and plays great but I want to build a more traditional 3 string now. I clicked on the "Free Plans" link on the home page and then selected the link "How to build a 3-string cigar box guitar." The plan calls for a 3 ft long 1X2 (Poplar) I purchased a 6 ft 1X2 with the hopes of making 2 necks but after getting it home and checking out the lumber I noticed it was pretty flexible! Has anyone made a build following these plans and used poplar? I'm a little wet behind the ears when it comes to woodworking but I'm no rookie to guitars and know that there's a lot of stress on the neck once a guitar is strung up and tuned. Should I proceed with trying to shape a neck from poplar or save it for a different project and find a different wood to make a neck from?

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Permalink Reply by Craig Mayhem on June 13, 2013 at 2:10am

They hide the maple 1x2s at Home Depot but it's there.

$1 per linear foot.

It's in the same aisle as the poplar and red oak, but it has just one skinny vertical bin. It's not pre-cut to length so it in 10' boards (or whatever length they come in.) make sure you get a straight section, though. A lot of them are bowed.

I've used poplar a lot and it's fine but now that I discovered the maple I'm using that. I like the way it looks better.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on June 13, 2013 at 3:05am

You can't build a guitar much faster than with a poplar neck and they hold up just fine. Get a good straight piece with straight grain. You can also laminate 2 pcs together to make a 2x2 neck and then quickly carve a radius on the back side. This will be nice and strong. Oak is good and hard, but doesn't carve as fast.

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Permalink Reply by Suspect Device on June 13, 2013 at 6:21am

The scarf joint will be stronger because a glued joint is actually stronger than a solid piece of wood. A decent piece of poplar will yield a fine neck, especially -as others have mentioned- with a glued-on fboard. I am a huge fan of maple necks. Maple also makes for a great economical fboard; hard, tight grain, etc. It can get a little grimy after awhile, but then so can I.

I haven't been building for very long, just a little over a year, but I have found poplar to be kind of frustrating to work with, at least as a neck wood. inconsistent and doesn't take stain or finish all that well. But it is exceptional as a tone wood, and works great as box bracing or as a thru-neck stiffener.

Hardwood flooring stores, like Lumber Liquidators can be good sources for cheap hardwood, particularly for more common stuff like oak. I bought a bundle of cut-off/leftover-from-some-job oak flooring for something like $20 and got 5-6 pieces that were long enough & straight enough for necks, plus lots of shorter pieces for headstocks & wings.