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I searched for a thread and couldn't find any current info so I thoguth I'd ask.
If one wwas to look for a less expensive wood to try some 3 piece laminated necks, what could be chosen?
As far as stabilit is concerned, shouldn't that be solved by laminating with a center strip of hardwood?
Does all wood need to be quartered?
Hypothetically speaking, couldn't a fella use a piece of 2" fir from Home Depot if it were clean with no knots? Cut and join with a 3/8" strip of anyhting hard in the center?
Just pondering.

There are many neck wood options but I don't think Fir would be one of them.... You need a harder wood.
It does not have to be quartersawn but its preferred.
You can use cherry, walnut, maple, mahogany, oak and a few more that don't come to mind right now!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

I would avoid fir, but If You have a Menard's in your area, they carry Mahogany. From Home Depot or Lowes, you may be able to find maple. I frequent the small sawmills around southern Illinois, and sometimes find nice cherry, maple, and walnut. These all make excellent necks, and can be had at a reasonable cost.
Flat sawn wood turned 90 degrees becomes quartered, so if You're making laminated necks this is what You want anyway. Of course Fender has used flatsawn maple from the very beginning.

Al

One of the biggest factors that should be Considered is the stability of the wood being used. Mahogany is one of the most stable woods. You should consult a book like Hoadleys - Understanding Wood prior to selecting alternative woods. Look at the shrinkage along each of the axis, the closer they are to each other the more stable the wood will be.
Naturally there are alternative woods.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Fir..? If you put in a cf rod, perhaps two, laminated the neck,rotate the grain orientation of the fir pieces, and had the requisite truss rod. In the end I doubt the cost savings would be much and if it failed it would end up costing you more.

Even maple or mahogany or the other "accepted" woods can move around enough to cause trouble. I wouldn't do it.

On the other hand I have a supply of phillipine mahogany and maple flooring I go to on a regular basis when building necks. None of it quarted and not your traditional neck wood. I laminate it and in the proccess flip the PH's grain orientation (rip then flip 90 degrees). This is not my idea lots of folks do it, but the result is a pretty stable neck.

The point being while I wouldn't try it with fir or other "soft" woods, I wouldn't hesitate to try this with most other hard woods for my personal (keeper) guitars. So if it's cheap your after I'd look at oak, cherry, walnut, etc. then rip and flip!

Fir is a no for sure.
For pretty cheap, look at the maples. If you stay away from the highly flamed stuff, maple isn't expensive at all. You'll want them to be dead flat sawn so then when the board is put up on end (as it would be with a lamination) the grain will run the depth of the neck. Peter said quater sawn but I'm pretty sure this is what he was thinking.
Walnut is also pretty cheap. I'd look for maple with a walnut lam. You aren't looking at much money at all since you only need three pieces of wood about 26" long. You'll use the waste to glue on ears for the wide parts of the headstock and you'll be golden.

I use Spanish cedar nowadays for my classical builds. I can't always find it well quartered, but I typically insert a strip of flatsawn ebony (about 1/4" x the thickness of the neck wood) between the two pieces for additional support. Being flatsawn, when rotated 90 degrees, it becomes quartersawn, so it works well as a stiffener.

When the neck wood I use is off quarter, I do this with the two pieces (seen in cross-section):

top (fretboard)
/////\\\\\
bottom

The way I see it, having the grain oriented in this fashion actually helps with the overall stability. Thus far, it's worked well for me.

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom39075.831412037

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Live to Play, Play to Live

I never really thought about it before but
its interesting that from a consumer perspective, the laminated neck would probably look more ornate.
{while potentially more stable than a one piece anyhow}
Appearing more ornate visually, hence having the appearance of actually having had more work put into it,
some buyers might actually prefer it - even though its been a wood saving alternative to one piece necks, and has become necessary on account of diminishing stocks of certain types of wood.
Its a pity this didnt become more of a trend 20-30 years ago.
Cheers
Charliewood

Like this Michael?



Colin

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

Fir would be ok but only inside a 5 piece lamination, on both sides of a hardwood center strip me thinks.