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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on September 21, 2013 at 7:28am

People have talked about doing that in the past, but I never heard back from anyone saying that it was successful or not. I would not try it nor recommend it.

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on September 21, 2013 at 8:33am

I remember Lonnie Pitchford playing a diddley bow at the Chicago Blues Fest back in the 90's, which I remember as simply a guitar shape cut out of plywood, then electrified with a pickup. The neck was on the short side. I would think plywood would be ok for an electric diddley bow or lap steel design.

If you wanted to make a neck, I would think it would have to be laminated in several layers to make it thicker. I don't think the sound would be that great though. If you take a piece of wood and tap on it, then you take a piece of plywood and tap on it, the wood sounds good, while the plywood, not so much.

On the other hand, we're all about freedom of design and experimentation on here, so I wouldn't let that deter you from trying it out if you want to.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 21, 2013 at 8:34am

Yes. I do them all the time. I laminate two pieces of 3/4" thick 5-8 ply lauan together with Titebond wood glue and clamps; the pieces are usually about 1" deep, usually 36-42" long, and the width across the fretboard is 1.5." They sand and polish up real nice; olive oil, which is the stain / finish I use on my builds, brings out he ply laminations really nicely. I am now adding mahogany fretboards atop them, to hold real frets; my first couple were simply finishing nails bent over, stuck into holes drilled into the fretboard face, and Super Glued down.

I only do 3 and 4 stringers, 25 " scale; so far I haven't had to worry about bowing or bending; the necks are incredibly strong.

Do they sound as good as an oak, maple or mahogany neck? Nope. But most of the vibration is getting transferred to the box tops, which I make from 3/16" lauan plywood, and those do resonate well acoustically. I'm also building a violin out of the same 3/4" ply, for a theater prop; it will be playable.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 21, 2013 at 8:05pm

Also, fergot to mention, the plies face up, vertical. If you try to lay em horizontal, the neck will bend under string tension. Glueing a separate hardwood fretboard atop the vertical plies also pretty much eliminates any side-bending forces.

Many commercial necks made with internal truss rods are essentially plywood; it's just that they are typically laminated out of hardwoods.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on September 21, 2013 at 9:35pm

photos pls?

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Permalink Reply by Wade on September 21, 2013 at 12:30pm

Yes. I challenged myself and made a neck out of laminated strips of cigar boxes. I probably will never do it again, but made for a very strong neck. Martin also makes a neck called a stratobond neck which is a type of plywood, I believe.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on September 21, 2013 at 12:40pm

Gibson did the spectra-ply les pauls for a few years there too

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Permalink Reply by Huntz Meyer on September 22, 2013 at 5:50am

http://www.huntzmeyer.com/cbg_111253.html

Spectraply worked great.

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Permalink Reply by David Bowes on September 22, 2013 at 6:20am

Thanks, the guitar looks amazing. I will need some years practice to get any where near this standard.

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