Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David McQueen on May 9, 2013 at 2:12pm

Different types of pine have different hardness. I understand that some southern pine is hard enough for flooring. Up here we have white, red and jack pine, all of which are pretty soft and I think would bend or even break.

A four string with light acoustic strings is pulling about 110 pounds. If you are using light electric strings it would be substantially less. A 6 stringer with these is only pulling about 90 pounds.

So, the answer, kinda sorta is.... It depends

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on May 9, 2013 at 7:05pm

Softwood will work fine..it's not my wood of choice, but it does work. In my 'make and play' days I use 1" x 1/12" softwood for necks as it cost about 30 cents a neck, and I've done hundreds upon hundreds of them. I've also used good quality tight grained hemlock with a truss rod and a hardwood fretboard. Make one and see..if it doesn't work for you, throw the neck away and make a hardwood one!

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 10, 2013 at 3:21am

I use lauan plywood for my necks. They're amazingly strong.

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Permalink Reply by The Capo Kid on May 10, 2013 at 8:57am

 I've just made 4 stringer neck out of pine 1/12" x 3/4" with a 1/4" sapele fretboard  no bowing at all , works great .

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Permalink Reply by Gary Merrithew on May 11, 2013 at 5:14am

Thanks guys for input, I'll try one at some point. I get most of my lumber at Home depot cause I like to look it all over first, but lately it's been real hard to find a straight piece it the whole place, And I have some pretty good pine already. I guess most guys run acoustic strings on cbg's and I have on one of mine, but as a rule I use Ernie Ball pinks on everything, even my six string acoustic guitar, just my fav I guess.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 11, 2013 at 7:24am

Gary,

If you put a hardwood fretboard on top of pine, like Grant did, you won't get much if any bowing on a 3 or 4 stringer.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Merrithew on May 11, 2013 at 11:39am

That sounds good, do you make your own or buy em at cb gitty? I've bought most of my stuff through them and the quality seems real good for the price point.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 11, 2013 at 3:58pm

I make my own. I get lauan 5-ply plywood scraps from theater projects, then laminate a couple lengths together for a 1-1/2" width neck. The other wood we get here is crappy knotty pine, so that gets used for box corners, and internal supports. I've got a bud who is a hobbyist woodworker who can get me thin mahogany, so my next fretboards will be mahogany glued to the lauan neck. The lauan is easy to shape with a belt sander, Rotozip, and hand rasp, and stains well. Just have to fill a few glue voids now and then.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Merrithew on May 12, 2013 at 3:05am

 Thats sounds good I'll have to give it a try. I've got a pretty good workshop, my uncle was a woodworker and when he died left me all his stuff so I've got all the basics, Table saw, 2 drill press, chop saw, band saw,multiple sanders and tons of hand tools. I used to help him a lot so I learned from him, I know he would be real happy knowing how much I use his shop and tools. My new goal is to learn how to fret, workin on a 4 string flying V and I want it with fret's so I'm gonna buy the starter kit and learn.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas "Duck" Petry on May 13, 2013 at 3:57am

They use Douglass Fir and Sitka Spruce for win spars in aircraft. It just depends on the grain of the wood. I built one with a cheap white pine 1X2 for the neck and put a piece of 1/4" oak on the neck for a fingerboard and it worked great. No sign of bowing. Even though the pine is soft and will ding up pretty easily if you beat on it, it's surprisingly strong.

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Permalink Reply by jeff maurer on May 13, 2013 at 10:33am

my second neck i built was cut out of a pine 2x4 and i had no bowing problems at all. i did have to eventually scrap it as it was my first attempt at fretting and it was not perfect. i now have a fret scale and no fretting problems at all. that being said i exclusively use 1x2 red oak from menards cause its strong and easy to work with. although i have to pick thru alot to get straight wood. i tried home depot one time and couldnt find a single piece of wood that was straight enough to work with

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on May 14, 2013 at 12:46am

Gary, I have used spruce or pine 2x4s - and 1 x4s for one strings.   I build them a bit thicker.  They nick and wear a little faster, but are good.  I have a lot of gits, but one of my faves, the White Owl, has a pine neck.  It has been in a lot of videos.

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