Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Don Goguen on June 1, 2010 at 2:08pm

As to the issue of tension, you can always go with a truss rod. A router with a 1/4" spiral cut bit does the job of routing out the slot. You will need to drill an access hole for adjustment.

I really stressed about this aspect of neck building until I did it. A few clamps and a couple of boards for a guide is all it takes. I found a company out of Ontario CA that has a variety of different sizes for cheap on Ebay. You can also find a number of videos on youtube.com on building necks and installing truss rods.

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on June 1, 2010 at 2:58pm

It really depends on how yer gonna tune it.
DD, AA, dd with a set of thin strings won't be that much tension.
Double the neck? No, I wouldn't. It wouldn't be very comfy to play, or very playable.
Truss rod? A 3/4" neck with a fretboard, or a 7/8" neck should be OK.
Even better ... make a laminated neck and cut it down to size ... even stronger.

Matt

btw- I think Shane has one he plays thats a six (3 pairs).

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on June 1, 2010 at 3:04pm

These are all short-ish necks, 17" and 19". No truss rods used, applied fingerboards. Usually octave pairings.

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Permalink Reply by HENRY LOWMAN on June 1, 2010 at 6:57pm

I built a 12 string guitar with 6 pairs of steel strings (light guage electric, of course). I have also built 8 stringers with 4 pairs of classical nylon as well as monofiliment fishing line. Check out the pics on my page. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Larry McInnes on June 2, 2010 at 2:18am

And this is why I love this site. Thanks, folks, for sharing your insight and brilliance.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on June 2, 2010 at 4:08am

My mandola has the full 8-strings treatment, and no warpage at all... Of course, the neck is quite short, and I erred on the side of "beefy".... I also made it laminated. Two maple boards with a 1/4" oak piece sandwiched between.
It's a bolt-on, I used a furniture insert to hold the through-bolt.
Also, a good sturdy Cohiba box.

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Permalink Reply by Bluesdog on June 2, 2010 at 8:27am

Shane has one called "Black and Tan" i believe Josh Gayou made that one but i'm not shure about that.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on June 2, 2010 at 8:36am

Yep, that was mine.

My rule has always been that anything with more than 4 strings gets a truss rod automatically. Remember that a truss rod is not so much about resisting the pull of the strings as it is about correcting changes in the neck due to temperature or humidity changes. String tension obviously affects the neck and will have a bearing on the instrument but that's not the whole point of the thing. A guitar neck is alive and is in constant movement over the years. In fact, it's not uncommon to find that the ends of your frets stick out a little further than the sides of your fretboard after a year or so because the wood has contracted so much from moisture loss. Because the wood is always moving and changing right under your nose, you want the truss rod there to make continuous adjustments and to keep the guitar is the best playing condition possible. If the thing is only ever going to be a slide guitar or doesn't need to maintain the perfect shredding action, by all means skip the rod (as long as the neck is made of two or more laminated pieces).

Bluesdog said:

Shane has one called "Black and Tan" i believe Josh Gayou made that one but i'm not shure about that.

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Nation on June 2, 2010 at 7:45pm

The one on the left. :)

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Permalink Reply by Larry McInnes on June 3, 2010 at 1:42am

Shane, can you hold your arm a little closer to the camera? I'm trying to measure the fret spacing.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on June 3, 2010 at 5:01am

ROFL. 25.5 scale length, 24 fret neck.

Larry McInnes said:

Shane, can you hold your arm a little closer to the camera? I'm trying to measure the fret spacing.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Fowle on June 3, 2010 at 6:33pm

How about neck width and string spacing??? I'm attempting one tuned D aa dd. I don't know:
- how wide the neck should be
- how far in from the outside edge of the neck the outer strings should be
- how far apart to place the doubled strings from each other
- how far apart each of the three courses should be from each other.

Having one of the courses not doubled is only adding to my confusion.

Anyone have any pointers?

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