1st build. Which neck?

[nickray]

Hello,
I am new to the forum but have been looking around for quite a while. After about three years of dreaming I finally ordered my first Warmoth body!
-Left handed Black Korina SG
-It is going to get a wrap-around bridge (As of now it is the TonePros AVT-II)
-Initially I was planning on putting a tobacco burst on it, but I'll decide once I see what it looks like.
-It is gonna get some PAF style pickups, but I haven't decided which yet.
-Maybe a piezo with the AVT-II bridge.

Now I just need to decide on the neck.
It is going to be a Conversion Angled LP Neck.
I am after a sort of warm/thick sound.

Here are some ideas:
-Indian Rosewood with ebony fretboard
-Pearloid Trapezoid inlays
-stainless steel frets

-Wenge with ebony fretboard
-Pearloid Trapezoid inlays
-stainless steel frets

-Bubinga with Zircote fretboard
-Black Trapeziold inlays (might be interesting)
-stainless steel frets

I want an unfinished neck and I would like to avoid neck dive if possible.
I am thinking 1 11/16, 59 roundback.
Which one (if any) sounds like it would pair nicely with the body?

 

[Kublai]

The rosewood would be great, however, I prefer my wenge necks over my rosewood. Nothing at all wrong with rosewood. I enjoy it. Just a feel thing. I never played bubinga.

 

[B3Guy]

what type of feel are you going for? Open grain, or tight? Smooth or satin? Obviously, you care somewhat about weight, but what else?

 

[nickray]

I have never played a raw neck, but I imagine I will enjoy the "feel" of anything raw vs a neck with a finish. I think I would like the feel of a super smooth fretboard and ss frets.
That being said, I am more concerned with sound than feel.
I would love the guitar to sound "thick" sort of like a LP if that is possible with the body I chose.
I would also like the neck to look like it belongs on the Black Korina body, if that makes any sense.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Any of the necks will do.  Big help, right?  The pickups will be the key players in getting the sound.  The Wenge neck is an interesting neck, with mids that help it cut through the mix.  Basses use that wood quite a bit for that reason, and that they are extremely fun to play.  If there is a shop near you that carries Warwick basses, go and try them out to get an idea of what it will feel like.  I go back and forth on how much of the "thick" sound comes from the neck.  I have a Warmoth Les Paul with a wenge neck, and with a change in pick ups, it went from one end of the sonic spectrum to the other.  Honestly, I would try some higher end basses with some of the woods you listed to figure out what wood you like the feeling of the best, and then look into getting pickups that have the characteristics you want for the sound.

As far as neck dive, the SG design is more prone to that problem.  I think that there are some neck woods that will help, but it might be splitting hairs with the ideas you listed.  Get a good strap, that helped me the most with that problem.  There are some other solutions to the neck dive problem if you search the old posts, some funnier than others...  Good luck
Patrick

 

[tfarny]

just fyi both wenge and rosewood are quite heavy, and the SG shape is prone to neck dive, so if that really bugs you it's something to think about. Rosewood is a great neck, but wenge is slicker in the hand.

 

[B3Guy]

as always, I'll suggest pau ferro as a possibility.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

The ebony over bubinga is going to be the lightest of the lot, and you'll want the vintage modern design rather than the Warmoth Pro. The Pro is generally preferred because of its dual-action truss rod, but that adds weight. Since bubinga and ebony are both pretty stable, the dual-action truss rod may not be as necessary as it would be with something like maple or mahogany. I have an ebony over bubinga neck here, and even with the D/A truss it's lighter than my ebony over pau ferro. I have a much different body/pickup configuration than you're talking about, so I won't try to describe the sound. I will say that as far as feel, it's just sex. You'll love it.

Oh, and good call on the stainless. No matter what else you decide on, do that. Guaranteed you won't be sorry for that choice. 

 

[Cagey]

as always, I'll suggest pau ferro as a possibility.  :icon_thumright:

I love my pau ferro neck and would highly recommend them for most guitars, but it's a surprisingly heavy little rascal so I'm not sure an SG body is the right thing to attach one to. You'd need to hang the headstock on a chainfall to prevent neck dive.

 

[Jusatele]

I recently built a guitar wit ha Goncalo Alves neck, raw, I was shocked at how much I like the raw neck over the finished necks I own. It balanced very well on the Tele I built and sounds great

 

[Cagey]

My next neck was going to be a unfinished goncalo alves part, but I just won a finished ebony over walnut neck on fleabay, so it'll have to wait. But, I agree - the feel of raw necks is wonderful. Never thought I'd like that, but once you have one it's very compelling. Fortunately for me, I can play either way as I don't have the sweaty hands some folks suffer from. A clear gloss neck is as frictionless for me as a raw one.

 

[nickray]

Thanks for all the input. Although, I have to say that I was impatient and put in an order on the 6th or so before I read most of the replies. :laughing7:
I've been checking the forum daily, but for some reason I didn't see anyones reply until today. Weird.
I went with my original idea of Indian Rosewood w/ Ebony, Pearloid Trapezoid Inlays, and SS frets.
It's probably gonna be neck heavy, but it seems like most people agree that's just part of playing an SG.
So, it should be about 4 weeks now until I receive the body and neck from Warmoth. I'm excited!

My tuners and bridge came in the mail today.
Chrome Tonepros AVT-II w/ graphtech ghost saddles. (found a good deal on ebay) 
Tonepros Kluson locking tuners. TPKB3L-C. (also ebay)
Deciding on pickups is proving to be difficult...Maybe another post in the pickups section?

 

[swarfrat]

Wenge, Goncalo, Bubinga are all warm toned exotics. There's some white korina on hand evidently, but that requires a finish.

 

[keeper006]

Hey fellow lefty! I have a rosewood neck with a ziricote board (pics in the VIP section) and it is the most durable, fastest and warmest-fattest sounding of all the necks I have. I also have wenge and maple and another rosewood with ebony. The ebony board makes it brighter sounding than the ziricote and my maple necks are brighter regardless of fretboard wood, and I have tried them all on the same bodies (mahogany/maple cap and mahogany/mahogany cap, etc). Your build sounds awesome, can't wait to see it  :headbang: