I've made a few three strings all out of hard woods, was wondering if pine was an option or is it too soft? I thought maybe it would have a bow problem with string tension.
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Gary, I have used spruce or pine 2x4s - and 1 x4s for one strings. I build them a bit thicker. They nick and wear a little faster, but are good. I have a lot of gits, but one of my faves, the White Owl, has a pine neck. It has been in a lot of videos.
my second neck i built was cut out of a pine 2x4 and i had no bowing problems at all. i did have to eventually scrap it as it was my first attempt at fretting and it was not perfect. i now have a fret scale and no fretting problems at all. that being said i exclusively use 1x2 red oak from menards cause its strong and easy to work with. although i have to pick thru alot to get straight wood. i tried home depot one time and couldnt find a single piece of wood that was straight enough to work with
They use Douglass Fir and Sitka Spruce for win spars in aircraft. It just depends on the grain of the wood. I built one with a cheap white pine 1X2 for the neck and put a piece of 1/4" oak on the neck for a fingerboard and it worked great. No sign of bowing. Even though the pine is soft and will ding up pretty easily if you beat on it, it's surprisingly strong.
Thanks guys for input, I'll try one at some point. I get most of my lumber at Home depot cause I like to look it all over first, but lately it's been real hard to find a straight piece it the whole place, And I have some pretty good pine already. I guess most guys run acoustic strings on cbg's and I have on one of mine, but as a rule I use Ernie Ball pinks on everything, even my six string acoustic guitar, just my fav I guess.
If you put a hardwood fretboard on top of pine, like Grant did, you won't get much if any bowing on a 3 or 4 stringer.
That sounds good, do you make your own or buy em at cb gitty? I've bought most of my stuff through them and the quality seems real good for the price point.
Thats sounds good I'll have to give it a try. I've got a pretty good workshop, my uncle was a woodworker and when he died left me all his stuff so I've got all the basics, Table saw, 2 drill press, chop saw, band saw,multiple sanders and tons of hand tools. I used to help him a lot so I learned from him, I know he would be real happy knowing how much I use his shop and tools. My new goal is to learn how to fret, workin on a 4 string flying V and I want it with fret's so I'm gonna buy the starter kit and learn.
I've just made 4 stringer neck out of pine 1/12" x 3/4" with a 1/4" sapele fretboard no bowing at all , works great .
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