Anyone here tried using white ash for their necks?  What'd you think?


I mill most of my own lumber and have piles of oak and walnut so I'm pretty familiar with them and confident of their stability as CBG necks.  But, I just traded for a hundred or so board feet of white ash.  Its gorgeous and dense, but how does it stand up to string pressure? Is it more likely to bend?

Only thing I know about ash is folks make baseball bats and boats out of it.  Both, I guess, because it bends rather than breaks (well, until Bo Jackson breaks it over his knee).

My standard neck blank is 1-1/2" wide by 3/4" thick, carved down to round out the back.  Then, I laminate on a 1/4" thick fretboard - usually either oak or walnut.

Do you think my ash necks will bend too much on a 4 string CBG?

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For what it is worth I have used yellow ash with success. However I must say the ash I have came from 2x4 studs out of a one hundred y/old house. I know the circumstance is different, but...

I have a piece here at the shop it should do fine as a neck. It would be hard to shape though it is hard as a rock. All wood bends over time nothing to do for that except a truss rod.

Laminating the fretboards on also helps them to stay straight.

You can look up the characteristics of various woods on sites like this one. Ash looks like a rather good choice. I hope this is of some help.

All the best.

John

Interesting site John I may read over in more detail one day.

Thanks guys - looks like I might have picked up a bunch of nice guitar necks!  John, from that site you linked to, it looks to me that ash is very similar to the oak and walnut I'm used to, though a bit harder.  Hard is good for fretboards, so I'll cut some down to check out as those, too.

Excited to have some 'sperimentin' to do.

Well, I played around with it in the shop, doing a couple of tests to see how it bent under load compared to the oak I have.  It bent *slightly* more under the same load (25 lbs on a 30 inch span for 3 hours, 1 1/2" X 3/4" stock), but not enough to make me worry about using it.


So, I'm all in.  I cranked out 16 necks to use for a batch of student guitars for a class at the local ArtsCenter this November.  I'm very happy with the looks so far of the one I completed as a test.  You can't see the ash that well in this pic, but really looks nice with just an oil finish:

I have used it and I feel it has a lovely sustain and sound.
And its easy to work.
Can splinter like pine though.

Seems ok with my 3 string.
Thumbs up from me
Bug

Great wood, just make sure that it is quarter sawn. I've made over 30 guitars with it, holds up straight and true very well, with or without a glued on fret board.

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