I was at the hardwoods store today and found this great mahogany board! There's got to be at least two CBG necks in there!
...Wait. I've only ever used nice, hard maple. I know mahogany is well known for it's tone, but is it hard enough for a neck?
Maybe I'll finally try making and using a fretboard from a harder wood... That should give it some support, right?
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I don't know about 6-stringers, but mahogany should be plenty hard enough for 3- and 4-stringers. I've used cherry wood, and I think mahogany is harder. I've used mahogany for fretboards, so I have at least some idea about the relative hardness of the two woods. I also have used pine for necks. Pine is definitely softer than mahogany. The main down side to soft pine is that it's so easy to ding up. But several coats of polyurethane can help protect the surface.
Another thing you could try is to slice up your mahogany (assuming you have access to a good table saw), and do the same for a contrasting colored wood (like maple) and then laminate them together using alternate colored woods. The result is usually very pretty and these laminated necks tend to be stronger than those made from just one piece of wood. But there are some rules you need to remember to do to maximize the strength. First, flip each alternate board around so that the grain alternates. Looking from the end of the board, you will see the grains curve one way -- make each board in the stack alternate in end-grain curvature. The second thing to do is to orient the finished laminated board (the "neck blank") such that the separate boards are standing on their sides (i.e vertically oriented, rather than horizontally oriented). Doing these two "tricks" will strengthen your neck considerably.
-Rand.
Jim, Mahogany is a very good wood for neck material, lots of brand name guitar makers use it. Your idea of using a harder/stronger wood for the fretboard can only make it better.
Almost any hardwood should be good for making necks, esp. mahogany, lucky find gfi ! (-:
Mahogany is great for necks,straight grained and easy to work.Add a maple or sycamore fingerboard for a nice contrast.
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