Howdy. As of late I have been making my 3 stringed fretted guitars using red oak for the neck, and a smaller strip for the fretboard. If I were to switch out the neck with poplar, while still keeping the oak fretboard would it be strong enough to resist too much bending of the neck? ( I will be fretting it, but since it is slide, it seems like you would need a higher set action at any rate. Thoughts on if poplar plus oak would be strong enough? Also, as a side note, how high is the action typically on your fretted 3 stringers?
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any bad stories you hear about poplar is usually from someone bragging about , or selling their oak necks . ;-) (which ironically , i've heard more horror stories about )
poplar is fine on a 3 stringer , more easy to work with .. , and is less neck heavy for better balance .
an oak f board would add a bunch more strength to it . even beyond needed.
that being said .. occasionally , there is a bad piece of wood in any pile .
shop right and you'll be alright with poplar .
I build my slide guitars with a 1/4" height. I'm sure you'll get a lot of variations in opinions here. Find what you like and go with it.
Good luck building!
Thanks for the input guys. Makes sense. I had heard early on that poplar is not a way to go, and had avoided it since.
Poplar and Red Oak are both hardwoods so yes good neck material will not bend on a CBG (-:
I've made 3-string CBG's out of 1x2 poplar, no fretboard and no bending issues...