3 Big Exotics_Which One?

[musicispeace]

Interested in some wisdom (or otherwise) from the forum. I am plotting out a strat (poplar with maple top that I found on the showcase) and it will be some version or variation of white. Neck wise I am narrowing down to the following and wanted to get some feedback. It will be HSS with a PAF style humbucker in the bridge and slightly more potent than vintage single coils....been checking out zhangbucker pickups lately. I'm a blues player but am not uncomfortable with a brightish guitar. I'm definitely not a Les Paul guy anymore. Neck will get played raw on this guitar:

Bubinga with ebony board
Goncalo Alves with pau ferro board
Roasted Maple with macassar ebony board

Feel free to comment either on tone or aesthetics. Thank you.

 

[MikeW]

If you're not uncomfortable with a brighter tone, you might want to check out Canary to compare with Roasted Maple. I've got a Canary/Ebony neck on my latest Strat and love it. It's not as bright as Maple, and to my ears, has a bit of a bump in the midrange over Maple.

Pao Ferro is another wood that you might want to check out. It'll be on the brighter side of the scale as well and will be hard and slick like Maple. The darker tones of Pao Ferro would provide a nice contrast to the white (and chrome?) on the body.

If you're set on the three woods you've got listed, I'd pick Roasted Maple. YMMV, of course.

 

[musicispeace]

Very interesting and thank you. You know today I was looking at the all pau ferro necks and am not ruling them out. I wondered about the canary and your experience helps. I realize I should be fine no matter what as long as my expectations and choices are reasonably in sync and am obviously going through that phase of liking one neck one day and another the next but I certainly fall into that process style. I'm going to ask Cagey to work his magic on the neck of choice and look forward to joining the raw and burnished guitar neck club.

 

[TBurst Std]

Cagey is burnishing, doing fret and nut work, and installing inserts on my Canary/Canary neck right now. Am performing a body change and thought while the neck is off let's have some work done on it as well.

It is a boatneck with SS frets. Tonally I have found it to be an articulate, neutral sounding neck.

 

[Stonker]

Do you really believe that neck wood affects the tone

 

[stubhead]

I'll absolutely go as far as saying overall weight, and density, affect sustain and attack respectively, and the "tones" that can be electronically sampled out of necks with variations in those characteristics will vary from each other... but "better" or especially "best", oh for pete's sakes.

I Kin Ride Anythin' with HAIR!



....almost anything. :cool01:

 

[Cagey]

Do you really believe that neck wood affects the tone

Much more so than body wood does. But, to really play games with an electric guitar's character, get used to changing pickups.

 

[mayfly]

I've got a roasted maple neck.  It's pretty cool.

Having said that, I'm just the voice of one internet boob who may or may not have the same tastes as yourself.

 

[musicispeace]

I defer to Cagey's and some of the other folk's wisdom on this. I agree that pickups are a big game changer for a guitar but I do believe in the sum-of-all-parts impact on "tone." And then you get into amp settings etc. I ended up changing pickups on my first build and went from an OK-but-polite guitar sound to a more "Texas" edge and liked that much better for my purposes. Same neck and pots and body otherwise. My main goal in this neck business at the moment is to not stray horribly far from stratness but have something comfortable and interesting bolted onto the body.

 

[MikeW]

... I agree that pickups are a big game changer for a guitar but I do believe in the sum-of-all-parts impact on "tone."  ...

Yep. In my experience this is exactly what I find. Pickups are the meat of the matter, but woods do affect the overtones that stand out or are damped as the strings ring which, of course, affects tone. Pickups though are 70-80% of tone. The other 20% divided between neck woods, body wood(s), bridge type (hardtail vs. stop tail vs. floating vs. tremolo with bridge flush), and nut type. YMMV, as always.

 

[DangerousR6]

Not sure about the roasted maple, but I do like canary and goncalo as well as wenge. my favorite is canary with ziricote board...

 

[line6man]

Do you really believe that neck wood affects the tone

Absolutely!

Though the construction of the neck may make as big a difference as the wood it is made from.

 

[Surf n Music n Ski n Bike]

I love my roasted maple and ebony more than my canary on canary. I like the feel of the ebony fretboard paired with the SS frets. So slippery. I also like the tone of the guitar with the roasted maple neck. But most likely that is due to the single coils and the style of music I am playing. The canary neck is mated to ash and has humbuckers and I do like it but the roasted maple, ebony, alder and single coils are music to my ears. My girlfriend who rarely comments came in the other day while I was plaing and commented on how good the guitar sounded. 

 

[Rick]

I've never been able to bond with pau ferro fret boards, no problem bonding with those ebonies though.  Never tried roasted maple necks so please get a roasted neck with ebony fret board.

 

[Hbom]

I've never been able to bond with pau ferro fret boards, no problem bonding with those ebonies though.  Never tried roasted maple necks so please get a roasted neck with ebony fret board.

pau ferro with ebony board= sex on a stick. :blob7: :blob7: :blob7: :blob7: :blob7:

 

[DavyDave53]

My favorite neck right now is a roasted maple with a rosewood fret board.  I got it with a 12 inch radius and it has a Gibby like feel to it.  A shorter scale and a skinny neck would have taken it even closer to that dark side.

 

[greywolf]

I'd go with #3

and IMHO with 15 years of building , the neck wood makes the most significant influence of all the body woods, after all it is what carries the primary resonance from the strings.

I'll always choose ebony for a fretboard as long as it is available. 

 

[musicispeace]

I ended up blowing my allowance and have three projects on deck for the next several months and then I like to think I am going to be satisfied for awhile. I have ended up with a roasted maple neck with pau ferro that is going on a poplar strat body, an all Bubinga neck that is going on an alder strat body, and an all Canary that is going on swamp ash with a single humbucker. Gotta tell you the roasted maple smells incredible. Cagey is going to apply his considerable skills to the Bubinga and the Canary. The other already has frets.

 

[Animalboy71]

My latest Warmoth creation is a Swamp Ash tele with a Walnut Neck & Ebony fret board. It's super articulate & chimey sounding & I LOVE this thing! I think the woods compliment each other as well from an aesthetic point of view.

 

[musicispeace]

Animalboy71, that sounds really appealing. See, this is another reason why this forum is good because you hear about things you might not have thought about on your own.