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Permalink Reply by Order99 on November 24, 2012 at 2:30pm

  If we're talking about laminating-why not laminate pine to hardwood to pine etc in order to get the best of both worlds?

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on November 24, 2012 at 4:50pm

Theoretically, you should only laminate together woods that absorbs (expands) and releases (contracts) water at the same (or fairly similar) rates so as to minimize stress at the glue joints.

[This water absorption/release is the woods reaction to changes in humidity. And finishing the wood in polyurethane, or other wood protection schemes, probably helps to reduce this problem.]

This is why I generally laminate together boards of the same kind of wood.

However, lately, I have been building necks made of a solid core of red beech with a slat of cherry (or sapelli) on each side. The solid core is typically 2.5cm x 2.5cm while the cherry slats are 3cm by 0.5cm. This makes the width of the neck 3.5cm, which is pretty good for a 3- or 4- stringer. I like the solid hardwood core because it seems to have better tonal quality. The two side pieces actually extend maybe 35cm beyond the end of the neck and I place a 16cm x 2.5cm x 1.5cm block of cherry wood to form the tail block. This means I force apart the two side slats to form what I call a paddle-box shaped instrument (rather than using a cigar box or a home-made box). These cherry-to-beech wood joints do not seem to have a problem, but then they aren't very old.

So, I'm thinking a pine-to-oak lamination would probably work okay, at least short term (few years). Maybe if building an instrument like a Stradivarius violin that has to live thru centuries of weather changes, then this theoretical problem with matching woods' water absorbing problems may become significant. But, then pine is very soft, and oak is very hard, so I suspect they'd be like the worst case example for this problem, and I have not tried this combination. So, builder beware!

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on November 25, 2012 at 1:01pm

If you finish them with a good sealer would the water absorbtion still be an issue? 

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on November 25, 2012 at 1:47pm

Hi Michael.

Wood sealer should help prevent water absorption due to humidity changes. I use water based polyurethane since I don't like fumes from oil based products. The only time I had a wood problem that I can attribute to humidity (water absorption) was with a home-made box guitar that had a cherry (or was it sapelli? Too many moons have passed since then) fretboard that was butted up against the side of the sound box level with the soundboard. Within a couple of weeks of building it, I noticed that the end of the fretboard had bowed upward at the point where it contacted the plywood soundboard and side of the sound box. I often build in an air-conditioned room which means the wood is dryer than the outside environment. The weather in Southern China is generally very hot and humid most the year. So, it seems to me that what happened is the fretboard expanded lengthwise due to the high humidity and bent upward at the joint with the soundboard. After that, I either leave a gap to allow for expansion, or more often build with the fretboard overlapping the soundboard a bit.

-Rand

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Permalink Reply by Thomas "Duck" Petry on November 24, 2012 at 7:19pm

Built the neck on my "Junkyard Dog" build out of pine 1"X2" that had laid out in the garden for a little over two years. Aged and yard dried with a piece of 1/4" oak for the fingerboard. No problems so far and the CBG has a great voice. Experiment with it and if it doesn't work, salvage the good parts and build something different.

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on November 25, 2012 at 2:10pm

I have done 2 or more with pine and my fave and most used git, the White Owl, is made from a pine (or maybe spruce) 2x4.   Avoid knots and knot heads in bad places.   Maybe go a bit thicker.   The old time early cbg folk used what they could scrounge. 

As for the better woods, I like maple quite a lot, poplar not so much and aspen not at all.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on November 28, 2012 at 12:43pm

Face it with a mahogany strip for the fret board and it worked ok for me on my first couple of builds

I like Ash, Oak and Mahogany. 

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Permalink Reply by Justice Crafted on December 5, 2012 at 12:36pm

I'm working on a couple of slide guitars with pine necks. I routed a 1/8 inch channel into the neck and dropped in a 1/8X1/2 inch steel bar. I'm thinking it should stay pretty straight but I chose a slider in case it doesn't!

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Permalink Reply by jeff maurer on December 3, 2012 at 7:05am

i tried a pine 2x4 once and the neck was fine. i did scrap the gitty tho for other reasons. i almost exclusively use red oak and hand tools.(electric drill is my only power tool) i dont think red oak is as hard to cut and shape as others make it out to be, however i have tried maple once(with a red oak finger board) and found it is a little easier to work with

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Permalink Reply by Larry Chapman on December 23, 2012 at 11:29am

I've not used soft woods for necks but have extensive experience with Southern yellow pine. It is much denser and harder than other pines and firs and mills very nicely. I used it in the commercial manufacturer of rocking horses years ago. It also has a distinct grain and takes a stain better than softer conifers. 

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Permalink Reply by wormil on December 26, 2012 at 10:54am

There are two main types of pine, white and yellow. White pine is one of the softest woods. Yellow pine is a different animal, it is similar if not slightly stronger than poplar, can be as hard as mahogany and is a tad stiffer than poplar. The downside of yellow pine is that commonly available sources are fairly wet and prone to warping once cut. Really you'd want to leave this stuff sitting around the shop for 8-12 months to dry out, cut to rough size then wait a couple more days before milling to final size. If you can find old yellow pine, that stuff is the bomb.

I used some old (~30 year) southern yellow pine for the body of a uke and it sounds surprisingly good.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/albums/boat-paddle-soprano-ukulele

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on December 27, 2012 at 6:05am

I used pine for a bunch of canjos we did in a class for young students. It was great for those and I used it "on edge" so was plenty strong for that application. For regular necks you would really need a strong truss rod to keep it from bowing under string tension, at least of 3 or more. I guess you could split it and laminate in a piece of ply down the center to add strength but may be more trouble than it is worth (unless you get free plywood too).

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