Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on March 6, 2010 at 3:12am

Oh and poplar is a hardwood technically.

Duke T. said:

Poplar is not really a hardwood. .

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Nation on March 6, 2010 at 3:19am

I've made over 250 cigar box guitars using poplar wood. Of course it'll warp some...it's a cigar box guitar. However, I came up with a trick to keep action down:

Find poplar sticks that already have a warp...and then build the cigar box guitar with the neck warped backward. When you add strings, it evens out.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on March 6, 2010 at 4:17am

Can you take the neck off and add a fret board or just get rid of it and build a new neck now that you have learned some more as to how it should go. fret board, lamination, slight bow to your advantage, use some other wood.
Yes router and saw blade burns are a pain, sharp tools are a help, not letting the tool run on the wood in one spot also helps, but trick to do. Also cleaning the saw blade, router bit ,with oven cleaner helps also. The wood deposits sap on the cutting edge and then this sap heats up when you use it next time, this heat build up dulls the edge quicker and burns the wood easier. Router bits stop and burn at the end and beginning where you stop moving it. I start in the middle and move towards my stop point with as little pause as possible. Also you can route with the bit a little high and then go over the whole thing with the bit a hair lower to the final setting which makes it easire to go quickly without stoping. But I can see I am getting a little off topic here....... Cheers Ron.
Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by John on March 6, 2010 at 4:26am

What Shane describes is actually how a "real" guitar/bass neck with a truss rod functions. It has a bit of "back-bow", which then evens out with string pull, which in turn keeps the string height lower/more controlled.

In my first build (now taken apart to add a pickup) I added a fingerboard made of laminate flooring--you know--Pergo. Very hard, very resonate, but difficult to cut without marring the edge of the "finish" a bit. However, I like it and will probably continue to refine the process, since I have quite a bit of that stuff laying around from a home improvement project.

My second build coming up is a Macanudo box with two 3/4" X 1" strips of redwood laminated together (then shaped down) for the neck. Now, the redwood is easy to work with because it's so soft, but it would make a terrible finger board. Enter the Pergo flooring again.

Also, in keeping with the original question in this thread, glueing a finger board and/or laminating up a neck helps with rigidity and unwanted bowing.

Shane Speal said:

I've made over 250 cigar box guitars using poplar wood. Of course it'll warp some...it's a cigar box guitar. However, I came up with a trick to keep action down:

Find poplar sticks that already have a warp...and then build the cigar box guitar with the neck warped backward. When you add strings, it evens out.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on March 6, 2010 at 6:25am

I have built , and sold over 350 CBG's and ALL have poplar necks.Poplar works fine IF you dont try to use 1 piece of wood for the neck.
I buy poplar 1x2's by the truckload because I build and sell so many a year.
But each of mine is a 2 piece neck.
EACH of mine is a 2 piece neck.
I take 2 1x2's and laminate them together ,sandwich style.It only takes a few minutes to glue them up.
WHen I'm ready to finish out the neck I just cut ( bandsaw ) off the bottom of the neck to get a proper neck shape.( see pics of necks ready to use on my page)This method ALWAYS works and gives me a neck that works fine and is affordable.Yes it takes a little more planning to do it this way.But I ALWAYS know I can find the wood I need and what the cost will be.
To understand how I built necks, think of placing the neck on the floor and looking down at it. You will see the glue line down the center of the neck looking down from the top.
Last nite after I got home from work ( after midenite) I glued up 4 necks.Today BEFORE work I'll glue up a couple more. That'l give me enough necks with what I have already glued up to get 6 or 7 necks ready for next week.
It makes an attractive neck that I can reproduce over and over .
I build this way because I can produce several a week,plus some 1 strings, thats important to me because I sell retail in a retail shop I co-own with a dulcimer builder and seller.
Poplar is my wood of choice because of cost, ease of acquiring,and its hard enough to use if done right and soft enough to work easily , AND QUICKLY.
I have about $8 in each 3 string plus about 1 hour of work in each piece and price them at $77.95.And they sell quickly.SO I can turn that money around, put some in my pocket and build more, for more money,,,,,etc.
Poplar works fine,,if you understand it limits and go around them.
But, it WILL NOT work and be stable as a 1 piece if you want a perfectly str8 neck.

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Permalink Reply by Brother3String on March 6, 2010 at 6:58am

It kills me that I didn't think about that... and with Home Depot close by, I won't have a hard time finding some warped wood! Thanks.

Shane Speal said:

I've made over 250 cigar box guitars using poplar wood. Of course it'll warp some...it's a cigar box guitar. However, I came up with a trick to keep action down:

Find poplar sticks that already have a warp...and then build the cigar box guitar with the neck warped backward. When you add strings, it evens out.

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Permalink Reply by L.J. on March 6, 2010 at 9:02am

ive built quite a few fretless poplar necks. I dig the bend. If your fretting you should use a fretboard to strengthen it.And a lil wood on the backside of the neck in the box dont hurt either. My favorite build has a poplar neck.(my romeo and juilete distressed)Home depot wood is usually poplar or oak. Oak will work ya a bit.But it may have the strength ur looking for.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on March 6, 2010 at 9:15am

Preach it Brother Shane and Brother Roger! Listen to the Word ya'll.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on March 6, 2010 at 9:22am

Oak -amen. Like I said, the grain on oak is a little wide (see my link to the Univ. of TN website re: hardwoods on my last discussion). That's why I'm not fond of oak. When I round out a neck and don't have the grain running in the right direction, the 'loops' tend to make soft/hard spots which will make evening out the profile difficult.

Imagine the grain on a laminated neck running as such:

 
   A|B
////|\\\\

////|\\\\

////|\\\\

////|\\\\

Hopefully you can see that the grain is diagonal to the end and radiating outward. This reduces the grain loops and even makes to me a stronger neck

L.J. said:

ive built quite a few fretless poplar necks. I dig the bend. If your fretting you should use a fretboard to strengthen it.And a lil wood on the backside of the neck in the box dont hurt either. My favorite build has a poplar neck.(my romeo and juilete distressed)Home depot wood is usually poplar or oak. Oak will work ya a bit.But it may have the strength ur looking for.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on March 6, 2010 at 10:31am

hey man dont sacrifice ur first baby..
just tune a little lower, get lighter strings or swap to classical strings & learn from ur mistake

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Permalink Reply by Salty Sea Empire on March 6, 2010 at 7:56pm

iuse poplar for all my necks... one thing that you can try is to sandwich a harder piece of wood like red oad between two pieces of poplar...basically laminating the three pieces together....this will give you more wood to work with as far as shape goes and will also give added stiffness...you might also think about installing a truss rod...i know that daddy mojo uses a non adjustable trussrod like in the old martin guitars

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on March 7, 2010 at 1:33am

Brian,

Popular is not my material of choice, although I do three stringers without much worry .... adding a seperate fretboard of either oak or maple usually takes care of the lack of stiffness...

I like mahogany, walnut, maple and oak, all for different reasons.... I'm doing a lot of vertically laminated necks right now. That might be the way to go in the future....

the best,

Wichita Sam

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