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Ok, I'll be doing my first lam neck soon.

I have questions about the grain direction. In necks where the lams are as thin as a purfling line, I assume it's ok to use quartered wood? For instance, you could use orphaned sides as lam wood, as long as the bulk was flatswan? Bearing in mind flatsawn yields vertical neck stock in my mind...

Furthermore, is veneer such as you can buy at Windsor of sufficient strength to be used in necks?

Thanks...

I've done 3,5,7,9 layer laminate necks using a variety of woods and thicknesses. Lots of orphan sides and veneer sheets. I believe grain orientation is less critical once you start adding laminates, as the laminates greatly increase the strength of the neck. Some of those necks have been on my guitars for 8-10 years without an issue.

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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My experience is that grain orientation in a hardwood neck is not nearly as important as you may think. Contrary to popular opinion, vertical grain is not stiffer in bending along the grain. In fact, vertical grain necks are more likely to crack at the heel or the headstock junction, because the weakest plane in most woods is perpendicular to the growth rings.
Virtually every violin ever made has a flatsawn neck.
I have built several guitars with less-than-vertical grain in the neck, including a flatsawn cherry neck that is dead straight after 30 years....and no adjustment of the truss rod. In addition, it is a long neck.....14 frets and a 26 7/8" scale length.

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John

All true, but the original question here is about veneer which is too thin for grain direction to even be given a second thought.

The OP stated thusly:

That implies the falsehood that I tried to dispel.
In other words, if you dispense with the premise, the question answers itself. It doesn't matter how thin or thick the laminations are.

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John

I agree with John. I don't believe the laminates have much to do with neck strength. I don't use quarter sawn mahogany for my necks. Actually what I do looks more like this.
I start with a 5/4 or 6/4 piece of mahogany, rip it down the middle. reverse one piece and use center laminates and a stacked heel to put it all together.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust