I used a straight poplar 2X1 for the neck (through neck) on my first build... it's straight until I put the strings under tension, then the neck bows slightly, but enough so the action is way too high. Is poplar just a bad wood to use, or is there something I can do make sure the neck stays straight?
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I have not made many, yet but have had good luck so far. I used cherry on the first 2 ( I thought it was mahogany but my brother told me its cherry) I am building 2 now with black walnut. Why the fancy wood you ask, because it was free. Use what you can get and make it work. I like Rogers idea of laminating and cutting the necks, 3/4 inch juts isn't thick enough, 7/8" to an inch is much better and gives more room to make a nice round shape for the back of the neck. Good luck and have fun with it, I know I am.
Popular is not my material of choice, although I do three stringers without much worry .... adding a seperate fretboard of either oak or maple usually takes care of the lack of stiffness...
I like mahogany, walnut, maple and oak, all for different reasons.... I'm doing a lot of vertically laminated necks right now. That might be the way to go in the future....
iuse poplar for all my necks... one thing that you can try is to sandwich a harder piece of wood like red oad between two pieces of poplar...basically laminating the three pieces together....this will give you more wood to work with as far as shape goes and will also give added stiffness...you might also think about installing a truss rod...i know that daddy mojo uses a non adjustable trussrod like in the old martin guitars
Oak -amen. Like I said, the grain on oak is a little wide (see my link to the Univ. of TN website re: hardwoods on my last discussion). That's why I'm not fond of oak. When I round out a neck and don't have the grain running in the right direction, the 'loops' tend to make soft/hard spots which will make evening out the profile difficult.
Imagine the grain on a laminated neck running as such:
A|B ////|\\\\ ////|\\\\
////|\\\\
////|\\\\
Hopefully you can see that the grain is diagonal to the end and radiating outward. This reduces the grain loops and even makes to me a stronger neck
L.J. said:
ive built quite a few fretless poplar necks. I dig the bend. If your fretting you should use a fretboard to strengthen it.And a lil wood on the backside of the neck in the box dont hurt either. My favorite build has a poplar neck.(my romeo and juilete distressed)Home depot wood is usually poplar or oak. Oak will work ya a bit.But it may have the strength ur looking for.
ive built quite a few fretless poplar necks. I dig the bend. If your fretting you should use a fretboard to strengthen it.And a lil wood on the backside of the neck in the box dont hurt either. My favorite build has a poplar neck.(my romeo and juilete distressed)Home depot wood is usually poplar or oak. Oak will work ya a bit.But it may have the strength ur looking for.
It kills me that I didn't think about that... and with Home Depot close by, I won't have a hard time finding some warped wood! Thanks.
Shane Speal said:
I've made over 250 cigar box guitars using poplar wood. Of course it'll warp some...it's a cigar box guitar. However, I came up with a trick to keep action down:
Find poplar sticks that already have a warp...and then build the cigar box guitar with the neck warped backward. When you add strings, it evens out.
I have built , and sold over 350 CBG's and ALL have poplar necks.Poplar works fine IF you dont try to use 1 piece of wood for the neck.
I buy poplar 1x2's by the truckload because I build and sell so many a year.
But each of mine is a 2 piece neck.
EACH of mine is a 2 piece neck.
I take 2 1x2's and laminate them together ,sandwich style.It only takes a few minutes to glue them up.
WHen I'm ready to finish out the neck I just cut ( bandsaw ) off the bottom of the neck to get a proper neck shape.( see pics of necks ready to use on my page)This method ALWAYS works and gives me a neck that works fine and is affordable.Yes it takes a little more planning to do it this way.But I ALWAYS know I can find the wood I need and what the cost will be.
To understand how I built necks, think of placing the neck on the floor and looking down at it. You will see the glue line down the center of the neck looking down from the top.
Last nite after I got home from work ( after midenite) I glued up 4 necks.Today BEFORE work I'll glue up a couple more. That'l give me enough necks with what I have already glued up to get 6 or 7 necks ready for next week.
It makes an attractive neck that I can reproduce over and over .
I build this way because I can produce several a week,plus some 1 strings, thats important to me because I sell retail in a retail shop I co-own with a dulcimer builder and seller.
Poplar is my wood of choice because of cost, ease of acquiring,and its hard enough to use if done right and soft enough to work easily , AND QUICKLY.
I have about $8 in each 3 string plus about 1 hour of work in each piece and price them at $77.95.And they sell quickly.SO I can turn that money around, put some in my pocket and build more, for more money,,,,,etc.
Poplar works fine,,if you understand it limits and go around them.
But, it WILL NOT work and be stable as a 1 piece if you want a perfectly str8 neck.
Replies
Popular is not my material of choice, although I do three stringers without much worry .... adding a seperate fretboard of either oak or maple usually takes care of the lack of stiffness...
I like mahogany, walnut, maple and oak, all for different reasons.... I'm doing a lot of vertically laminated necks right now. That might be the way to go in the future....
the best,
Wichita Sam
just tune a little lower, get lighter strings or swap to classical strings & learn from ur mistake
Imagine the grain on a laminated neck running as such:
Hopefully you can see that the grain is diagonal to the end and radiating outward. This reduces the grain loops and even makes to me a stronger neck
L.J. said:
-WY
Shane Speal said:
I buy poplar 1x2's by the truckload because I build and sell so many a year.
But each of mine is a 2 piece neck.
EACH of mine is a 2 piece neck.
I take 2 1x2's and laminate them together ,sandwich style.It only takes a few minutes to glue them up.
WHen I'm ready to finish out the neck I just cut ( bandsaw ) off the bottom of the neck to get a proper neck shape.( see pics of necks ready to use on my page)This method ALWAYS works and gives me a neck that works fine and is affordable.Yes it takes a little more planning to do it this way.But I ALWAYS know I can find the wood I need and what the cost will be.
To understand how I built necks, think of placing the neck on the floor and looking down at it. You will see the glue line down the center of the neck looking down from the top.
Last nite after I got home from work ( after midenite) I glued up 4 necks.Today BEFORE work I'll glue up a couple more. That'l give me enough necks with what I have already glued up to get 6 or 7 necks ready for next week.
It makes an attractive neck that I can reproduce over and over .
I build this way because I can produce several a week,plus some 1 strings, thats important to me because I sell retail in a retail shop I co-own with a dulcimer builder and seller.
Poplar is my wood of choice because of cost, ease of acquiring,and its hard enough to use if done right and soft enough to work easily , AND QUICKLY.
I have about $8 in each 3 string plus about 1 hour of work in each piece and price them at $77.95.And they sell quickly.SO I can turn that money around, put some in my pocket and build more, for more money,,,,,etc.
Poplar works fine,,if you understand it limits and go around them.
But, it WILL NOT work and be stable as a 1 piece if you want a perfectly str8 neck.
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