I just built my first CBG a couple weeks ago and kinda cheated a bit since i used a bolt on neck from an electric guitar. I'm pretty proud of it and it looks and plays great but I want to build a more traditional 3 string now. I clicked on the "Free Plans" link on the home page and then selected the link "How to build a 3-string cigar box guitar." The plan calls for a 3 ft long 1X2 (Poplar) I purchased a 6 ft 1X2 with the hopes of making 2 necks but after getting it home and checking out the lumber I noticed it was pretty flexible! Has anyone made a build following these plans and used poplar? I'm a little wet behind the ears when it comes to woodworking but I'm no rookie to guitars and know that there's a lot of stress on the neck once a guitar is strung up and tuned. Should I proceed with trying to shape a neck from poplar or save it for a different project and find a different wood to make a neck from?
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The scarf joint will be stronger because a glued joint is actually stronger than a solid piece of wood. A decent piece of poplar will yield a fine neck, especially -as others have mentioned- with a glued-on fboard. I am a huge fan of maple necks. Maple also makes for a great economical fboard; hard, tight grain, etc. It can get a little grimy after awhile, but then so can I.
I haven't been building for very long, just a little over a year, but I have found poplar to be kind of frustrating to work with, at least as a neck wood. inconsistent and doesn't take stain or finish all that well. But it is exceptional as a tone wood, and works great as box bracing or as a thru-neck stiffener.
Hardwood flooring stores, like Lumber Liquidators can be good sources for cheap hardwood, particularly for more common stuff like oak. I bought a bundle of cut-off/leftover-from-some-job oak flooring for something like $20 and got 5-6 pieces that were long enough & straight enough for necks, plus lots of shorter pieces for headstocks & wings.
You can't build a guitar much faster than with a poplar neck and they hold up just fine. Get a good straight piece with straight grain. You can also laminate 2 pcs together to make a 2x2 neck and then quickly carve a radius on the back side. This will be nice and strong. Oak is good and hard, but doesn't carve as fast.
They hide the maple 1x2s at Home Depot but it's there.
$1 per linear foot.
It's in the same aisle as the poplar and red oak, but it has just one skinny vertical bin. It's not pre-cut to length so it in 10' boards (or whatever length they come in.) make sure you get a straight section, though. A lot of them are bowed.
I've used poplar a lot and it's fine but now that I discovered the maple I'm using that. I like the way it looks better.
poplar is fine to use. ive used poplar alot and none of my guitars have ever bowed .
but , like tapping fruit .. you should check the piece you are getting for straightness and flex before you buy . . like jeff says .. "not all trees are alike "
i picked up a piece at home depot once , and id swear it was rubber .
you gotta pick out the good ones .
canada seems to get the better quality poplar ,, not like the mostly greenish stuff you see in the states alot .
as you say this is for a fretless slide .. so it shouldnt matter much at all .
i would opt for oak if it was fretted or more than 3 strings . or a bass .
poplar is fine for what you want ,, and wont be neck heavy either .
but pick a good piece .
Thanks for the replies :) This one is gonna be a fretless 3 string for slide tuned to DGD with an overal length of 36" so no fingerboard will be needed. Should probably go with the oak instead. I've got some crazy ideas for this build now that I've got the basics down so oak will probably a better choice since I'm gonna put a lot more time and effort into it! It's gonna be a tribute guitar designed after the guitarist that inspired me to play guitar when i was a kid so there will be extra pieces added to the cigar box to make it resemble his guitar!
Hey Jason. Take that poplar, and do a scarf joint with it. Take all the time necessary to do the joint right. After the joint is done, build a guitar that takes less than three hours to build. It can be done quite easily, and you won't be spending a lot of time on it. Chances are, this guitar will play and sound great and you will learn quite a bit. Plus it never hurts to have a scarf joint under your belt before you work on your "real" guitar.
I'm new to this. How will a scarf joint keep the poplar from bowing over time? I'm thinking one solid piece of harder wood with no joints would hold up better
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