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I have some well quartered neck boards that are supposed to be Spanish Cedar. I got six from Rockler during a sale - I have 3 left.
I used two of the 3/4-inch boards for a neck after burning up one for practice. They worked well and were very stiff.   But - the rest are ROCK hard and each is a heavy as ebony!
I remember reading that it can be a good thing to have a heavy neck on your handmade instrument - but, how much is too much?

I've never seem any spanish cedar that was as heavy as ebony.... but, that being the case I'd think it was a bit to heavy.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Can you post a picture. I doubt that it's spanish cedar if it's that heavy.

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The smell will be a dead give-away with spanish cedar. Its unmistakeable. Do the scratch n' sniff test. There is variation with density within any species, but not usually that much.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

That ain't no Spanish cedar! I've got a fair bit sitting here and none of it comes near to mahogany for density never mind ebony. Strange.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

"too heavy" depends a bit on what you are building and who is going to play it.

for playing comfort the body needs to be heavy enough to balance with the neck else the fretting arm has to also support a heavy weight. for this reason heavy woods, e.g. maple, are most commonly used only for solid body necks. of course many builders have used heavier woods in acoustics, but it is a relative rarity.

the weight problem can also exist if you are building for someone of small stature or less strength. it might not be a problem if your player is also a nfl lineman.

i feel that lack of balance is a greater negative than total weight, but others may feel differently.

Del Langejans predominately uses indian rosewood for the necks on his steel strings and classicals.
There have been other classical makers-Overholtzer is one that comes to mind that have used Brazilian rosewood for necks.
David Russel Young also used Brazilian rosewood for his steel string necks.Brad Goodman38776.4056828704