How I Select Wood For A Guitar Neck And Fretboard

[@flama644]

My first guitar build I made it out out cherry (body and neck) and it was surprisingly stable and sounded really good

[@deathmetalchili6902]

Definitely my favorite guitar building channel. I also appreciate having my questions answered honestly and with my learning journey in mind. How about Quartersawn Kiln Dried Birch? I happened upon a few hundred pounds of it to make a Stave drum kit. And will have a substantial amount left. You kick ass man. Cheers! 😊

[@aleksandart.8150]

9:15 "If a neck fails, it's highly doubtful that anyone is ever gonna get injured or killed" -- maybe the luthier?

[@HighlineGuitars]

That's why I carry.

[@michaelmuhlberg6262]

I like to experiment with woods, i also like to use riftsawn lumber but only if it is old. The last guitar i build was with a plum tree neck. So a fruit wood. But really old 20 years + and looks awesome red, violet brown coloring. I reinforce all my necks with carbon fibre. I also used highly flamed white limba as a neck und fretboard. This stuff is really hard eypecially for your tools. The only neck i have "problems" with is a zebrano neck. It likes to change from time to time. I personally think that wenge is also excellent for a neck.

[@drzainnas]

So glad have planned to watch this video, as always keep learning new amazing things, thank you Chris. Best regards from ENGLAND 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿👍

[@NehuennSant]

I neeeeeed this video! I’m looking to get maple or mahagony for my guitar.. Can’t wait!!

[@drzainnas]

Thank you Chris. A great and very impressive experience you have. Best regards from ENGLAND 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿👍👍

[@strangeearth3592]

I’ve used black cherry for necks several times with great results.

[@standingbadger]

I second that. Two years or so ago I commissioned a double cut , humbucker-equipped solid guitar from a local luthier in Scotland. I wanted an all-mahogany construction and a rosewood/ebony fingerboard. At the time, he was waiting for a shipment of more of these woods - severely delayed largely due to the after-math of C19. I didn't want to wait so we chose North American black cherry for the neck and body and a piece of certified Tanzanian Blackwood for the fingerboard. That guitar has been toured and heavily gigged and remains my most stable and reliable instrument for tuning and versatility. It's lightweight too. The body looks like it's made from tiger's eye when the light hits it right.

[@scottakam]

I noticed a while ago that many of the big acoustic guitar makers make their necks out of Sapele even when they use African Mahogany in the body. Sapele is significantly harder than Mahogany but has a similar look. Costwise, they are similar. I made a guitar with a Sapele neck and it turn out great.

[@bobmills8341]

Thanks!

[@HighlineGuitars]

And thank you, Bob. Merry Christmas a day late.

[@sgt.grinch3299]

Let’s Roll. Greetings Chris.

[@dorianmode69]

Love all the vids, also seems to get better and better

[@rbattistin]

Thanks, Chris !!

[@tsiggy]

In your experience and solely in terms of performance (not aesthetics, availability, price, etc), what are the most important properties that wood for a neck should have and in what order of significance? E.g. what is the minimum stiffness and hardness it should have?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Janka hardness is the only property you need to focus on. 1,500+ is better. It should also be quarter sawn and straight.

[@dalgguitars]

Chris, I'd love to have another argument with you, the last one was so fun! Unfortunately I agree with pretty much everything you said. ;-)

[@you_are_kidding_me_right]

What about laminating the wood? Wouldn't that increase stability?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Yes* *In theory and only if done correctly.

[@you_are_kidding_me_right]

@@HighlineGuitars lol, right after I posted this comment, the YT algorithm gave me your video on laminated necks from a week ago.

[@tsiggy]

When you say that the grain should be tightly packed, as close together as possible, do you mean that the higher the density of annual rings, the better? e.g. 15 annual rings per inch better than 4? 2:03

[@HighlineGuitars]

Yes

[@jeffreymckeown]

I am always interested in watching guitar building videos. But none of my questions have ever been answered. So I really want to ask you about wood and carbon fiber reinforcement. First, is there quoter saw curly maple exist? I live in Indonesia and here we have many rain tropical forest. But I still difficult to find a good lumber 😢. Btw....is there any maple grown in Asia or just in America? Last question, what kind of carbon fiber did you usually use to prevent neck twisting? I will really appreciate your answer 😊

[@HighlineGuitars]

Flat sawn curly Maple looks better. You can find quartersawn curly Maple, but it isn't as common. Tropical rainforests are full of exotic hardwoods. Look for Rosewoods. This is the carbon fiber to use for preventing twist: dragonplate.com/carbon-fiber-d-tube

[@TxStang]

true quartersawn is getting harder to find locally but I find plenty of rift sawn sold as quartersawn . Also I see titanium rods being sold for reinforcement , how good are those ?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Titanium rods ain't cheap and even though you may think you get what you pay for, you'll probably be disappointed. Sure they'll reinforce a neck just like carbon fiber does, so why spend extra?

[@johnhartley7316]

Do carbon fiber strips prohibit the truss rod from functioning properly? Will you still be able to dial in the desired relief?

[@HighlineGuitars]

They do not affect the truss rod's function.

[@tsiggy]

Do you install the carbon fiber rods width-wise (laying) or height-wise (standing)? 7:34

[@HighlineGuitars]

Height-wise

[@LogicalQ]

From a theory perspective, would a ‘C’ channel of prepreg carbon fiber around the truss rod be the be all end all of neck reinforcement?

[@HighlineGuitars]

We're building guitars, not wings for a jet fighter.

[@LogicalQ]

@@HighlineGuitars I get get where you’re coming from practically speaking, but isn’t the whole point of a boutique/custom guitar going beyond what is necessary? Why not put the jet fighter in a Flying V?

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@LogicalQ If a boutique/custom builder is asked by a potential buyer to make a guitar that way, they can and should. However, if the boutique/ custom builder starts producing jet fighter Flying V guitars and markets them as having an advantage over non jet fighter Flying V guitars, they have a moral and legal obligation to back up their claims. I'm not a lawyer, but I have had years of experience with truth in advertising and know what it means to get a cease and desist letter threatening a lawsuit over false advertising claims. Bottom line: If you want to make a guitar a certain way and brag about how much better it is compared to the competition, you'd better have the test results and/or data to back up your claims.

[@LogicalQ]

@@HighlineGuitars thanks for taking the time to have this back and forth. Love what you do. I asked from a theory perspective, not to create marketing material. If one could create a neck reinforcement strategy that removed the burden of stability from the wood entirely, it would open up the possibility of using the otherwise unsuitable woods you mentioned in your video. Figure out how to make a functional neck out of something like balsa, and the fragility of anything else you might want to use would become irrelevant.

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@LogicalQ commenting from a theoretical perspective is fine and encouraged. However, as the owner of this channel, I can't control who reads the comments and how they may apply what they learn. Therefore, I fell I have a moral obligation to express caution, if necessary, when I reply.

[@GodzillaGoesGaga]

Has anyone ever used chestnut or horse-chestnut for guitars (neck or body) ?

[@Jgreen2794]

It is my understanding that the folks at Kiesel only use quartersawn wood with carbon fiber reinforcement added, so it looks like you are in good company there.

[@ltgray2780]

Canadien maple is very strong due to the short growing season.

[@asafpelleh7594]

I actually break my head about this all the time.

[@chocolatecookie8571]

Hello Chris, could you put that link in the description (or pinned comment), please? thank you 10:33

[@michaeldavis4969]

Useful advice. One thing you did not discuss is any effect on tone in selection of neck and/or fretboard woods. Thoughts?

[@HighlineGuitars]

The effect of wood choice on tone is too small to be of any concern.

[@sunn_bass]

That's opening a can of worms in regards to electric solid body guitars and tone woods. I have built a number of instruments with different woods and prefer Padauk and wenge as my favorite neck woods with maple a close 3rd. Padauk and Wenge are stable but a pain to work with. Wenge is splintery and Padauk dust stains everything, but I love the feel of both without a finish. As for tone, my experience with solid bodies is don't worry about the woods for tone, pickups make a much bigger difference. It is true that when playing at room or low practice volume, or even unamped, you hear and feel differences, but most of that doesn't seem to translate to either recording or a real live band situation. Scale length, pickups, string type, string alloy and signal chain seem to be bigger driver of tone and sound. But that's just my experience and everyone has opinions on that.

[@michaeldavis4969]

​@HighlineGuitars Thanks. I'm a firm believer that many parts incrementally impact the tone. I agree that having a stable neck is probably more important than the incremental tonal impact of a different neck wood.

[@greghopkins18]

❤

[@scillyautomatic]

Wait. Do the carbon fiber rods touch either side of the truss rod or do they have their own slots?

[@sunn_bass]

The truss rod has it's usual route. One CF rod will be placed on each side of the truss rod. The CF reinforcement rods will have their own separate channel routed out and epoxied into those separate channels. They don't touch. The CF rods are effectively laminated into the neck with the epoxy.

[@zeusapollo8688]

I would have thought moisture content would be a factor

[@sunn_bass]

I asked in the live chat if he measures the moisture and he does. And you are very correct that moisture is a major factor.

[@HighlineGuitars]

Not when it comes to buying the wood. Moisture is a factor only when you are ready to start carving.

[@sunn_bass]

@@HighlineGuitars Chris. Question about you moisture reply. I think it matters less when buying larger pieces that you cut to size in your own shop to boards and possibly even age prior to even cutting to dimensioned boards. But many small hobby builders are buying dimensioned boards like neck blanks from StewMac, online sellers or localwood shops.. Not a lot of wiggle room for a 1 inch or 3/4 inch neck blank. I think the moisture is larger factor in that case as too much humidity in a thin board may make the board unusable if it cups, warps or twists as it drys. I personally like thicker pieces that I can cut down, plane and use a joiner on, but many hobbiest don't have the equipment to do that.

[@gordonpecinovsky4953]

Where do you get your neck wood from ? Your mahogany , too .

[@HighlineGuitars]

Austin Hardwoods and Paxton Lumber. Both are in Denver.