So where did you find your neck timber?

Posted by Carl Robson on April 22, 2010 at 5:57pm
Had a quick look in a couple of the DIY stores locally, plenty of "Softwood" and Pine Strip wood, but nothing in hardwood other than some trim.

Does it have to be hardwood? Has anyone had success with a softwood, if they made it a bit thicker than the normal 1"? Or  is almost certain to bow when strung?

Noticed in the local Wickes store, they had roughly 3 foot long square 41mm hemlock spindles.

Don't suppose these would be any good even for a first build? Would it be stiff enough to stand being strung?

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Replies

  • Carl Robson April 23, 2010 at 5:21am
    Oh, thank you.
    This can make my mess up build real cheap at the price they are.
    Now to find a biscuit tin or lunch box.

    ChickenboneJohn said:
    Hi, Those hemlock spindles make up just fine into cigar box guitar necks, its good tight timber- just make sure you select pieces with as straight a grain as you can and flaw-free..but all in all, it's decent timber, completely different to the other cheap softwood, which really is too soft and inconsistent for necks. On my 4 & 3 string license plate guitars I've topped it off with an oak fretboard, which greatly helps the rigidity, and most of my 4 strings have either an adjustable trussrod or fixed steel reinforcement...and I think Hollowbelly used one for his tin guitar...so there you go...it does work.

    It will be absolutely fine as a first built even without adding a fretboard or trussrod, as there's enough depth to easily do a 'Fender' style headstock without having to resort to scarfing on a headstock, and its easy to work.

    My other favourite source for timber is skips, or simply furniture turned out onto the pavement..there's loads of good timber in furniture..I've found table and chair legs (oak and beech), kitchen cabinet doors (oak and cherry), flooring offcuts, (maple, mahogany, oak, merbau), plus decent oak and mahogany veneered plywood form wardrobe and cupboard backs, which makes- up into nice boxes.

    In my view it's part of the fun and ethos to go skip-hunting for materials..plus it's free and it's a proper piece of re-cycling.

    Regards,

    The Godfather,
    Mr Chickenbone
  • ChickenboneJohn April 23, 2010 at 3:54am
    Hi, Those hemlock spindles make up just fine into cigar box guitar necks, its good tight timber- just make sure you select pieces with as straight a grain as you can and flaw-free..but all in all, it's decent timber, completely different to the other cheap softwood, which really is too soft and inconsistent for necks. On my 4 & 3 string license plate guitars I've topped it off with an oak fretboard, which greatly helps the rigidity, and most of my 4 strings have either an adjustable trussrod or fixed steel reinforcement...and I think Hollowbelly used one for his tin guitar...so there you go...it does work.

    It will be absolutely fine as a first built even without adding a fretboard or trussrod, as there's enough depth to easily do a 'Fender' style headstock without having to resort to scarfing on a headstock, and its easy to work.

    My other favourite source for timber is skips, or simply furniture turned out onto the pavement..there's loads of good timber in furniture..I've found table and chair legs (oak and beech), kitchen cabinet doors (oak and cherry), flooring offcuts, (maple, mahogany, oak, merbau), plus decent oak and mahogany veneered plywood form wardrobe and cupboard backs, which makes- up into nice boxes.

    In my view it's part of the fun and ethos to go skip-hunting for materials..plus it's free and it's a proper piece of re-cycling.

    Regards,

    The Godfather,
    Mr Chickenbone
  • Carl Robson April 23, 2010 at 3:51am
    Thanks guys. We look at Sapele if I can find it. I don't expect to make the perfect guitar first time round, but I don't want to find it isn't playable because it won't hold tune, because I've skimped on materials at the basic stage. I've noticed that Jewson list some hardwood too (unspecified), so I might run down to the local yard and see what they have available.
  • Mark April 22, 2010 at 6:48pm
    You definitely want hardwood. Softwood might be OK for some purposes (I can't argue with Yellowbelly if he says it's been OK for the things he's used it for) however it has lots of problems in terms of strength, resilience and tone. I tried making a diddlybow with a length of stock DIY store pine and it had a muffled tone and the bolt that I used for a tuner gradually pulled its hole oval and became useless. Like you, I was disappointed to find quite how dominant softwoods are in the DIY market. So I looked elsewhere.

    Apart from a couple of pieces of timber reclaimed from rubbish I've got all my neck material from local joinery firms. The ones I've tried all seem happy to sell me pieces cut to my specified sizes. Sapele is a commonly used hardwood that a lot of them seem to carry - it seems to be the poor man's substitute for mahogany and it makes great necks - I can generally get a 1m long length of a suitable size for a neck for around £5. I got a similar sort of deal on some maple but it was harder to find a firm that carried it.

    Specialist luthier suppliers will give you the best range of timbers for guitar making but they'll be more expensive. And part of the joy of CBG making is to create an instrument using as little specialist materials as possible.
  • Yellowbelly Flatt April 22, 2010 at 6:16pm
    If you are building a one string Diddley, a relatively soft wood would probably do the trick. I've recently built a stand up bass out of pine. This did the trick even with 4 (strimmer) lines/strings. For a short scale 3 string fiddle I used a broom handle. Did the trick beautifully.

    Some people might use old furniture, table legs etc for necks. Skips are good or a local furniture clearence auction house.

    For 'better' wood I contact one of the online luthier suppliers. A neck blank would cost perhaps £10 whilst a finger board might be £5 or £6.

    My current build will use a maple neck blank that was bought from a supplier to the local violin school. A bit of flame in it for £25. Enough for 2 guitars.

    Check out the plans and stuff on the front page of cigar box nation where woods and stuff are suggested.
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