Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on January 7, 2017 at 5:57pm

make sure you start with flat lumber.  wood has memory.  even if you sand it flat, it will more in the direction it was originally found.  also make sure the grain is perpendicular to the fret board, not parallel. cross grain, not flat grain is stronger.  Any good hard wood with an added fret board should stand up to years of use on 4 string CBGs.  

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 8, 2017 at 10:37pm

Hi Joe, the most stable necks I think are when timber is cut on the 1/4, grain running vertically top to bottom. If I cant get this, the photo shows what I do if the grain is too far off of vertical.

I've seen some rock maple electric guitar necks that are slab cut, grain going side to side, but generally guitar necks are cut on the 1/4.

  

Cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Moritz Voegeli on January 9, 2017 at 2:44am

Taffy hi, I ended up with the same idea for stable necks, with a thick fretboard as third part of the triangle.

Cheers, Moritz

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 9, 2017 at 9:27am

Way to go!
Another contribution to a more stable neck is a good firm fret job.
Taff

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 9, 2017 at 10:56pm

That certainly helps Moritz.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 9, 2017 at 10:55pm

Multiple pieces glued together will be stronger and less likely to warp than a one piece. Quarter sawn wood is better for protecting against neck ramping and back bow, but is likely to bow side to side unless it's glued in multiple pieces like these are or have a truss rod. Good call on the grain orientation and arranging the pieces accordingly.

Good job on those neck blanks Taff.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 9, 2017 at 11:08pm

 When I made my 4 string Gas Can-jo, I used a through piece for the can to bolt the neck on. The neck is Red Oak with a Red Oak fretboard and the through piece is Red Oak. I used my drill with a Forstner bit to cut a 5/32" wide channel and 17/32" deep in the neck and through piece and glued a piece of 1/8" x 1/2" steel flat bar in them for a non-adjustable trussrod and stabilizer.

That may have been overkill and not needed. But I'm very sure that they will remain stable forever. I also think the steel added some sustain and better harmonics to the neck and through piece.

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Permalink Reply by JL on January 10, 2017 at 12:58am

Are we going to start a thread on tonemetal? BwaHaHaHa

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Permalink Reply by Moritz Voegeli on January 10, 2017 at 6:59am

http://www.freeweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/XRayBanjo.jpg

According to Ed Stilley circular saw blades are excellent tone metal...

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 10, 2017 at 9:46am

You can get a good reverb thing going with some metal springs in your box. Shane did a video on that.

I tend to use metal for my bridges, I think it sounds better. I have a Fender Strat clone guitar that I changed the wimpy pot metal trem block out for a steel one and noticed a good change right off.

I guess it depends on where you put that saw blade as to whether you'd get any benefit from it. Instrument dynamic's can be very interesting. 

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 10, 2017 at 9:37am

No, that wasn't my intent, but it's an idea. LOL

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Permalink Reply by Moritz Voegeli on January 13, 2017 at 8:55am

Paul, you were talking about a non adjustable truss rod, then JL was joking about tone metals. Ed Stilley did some guitars with a circular saw blade attached to such a truss rod, you will find an x-ray of one on

http://www.guitarworld.com/acoustics-gear-blogs-videos-blogs-gear-n...

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