Advice needed, Neck/Fretboard wood

[joa]

First things first, fretboard and neck wood. I quite like the look of the CBS headstock, so will use that as a starting - with warmoth pro construction. A balanced warmish sound would be preferred.

I really like my guitars so feel extremely solid, with really long sustain...with that strong resonating feeling that refuses to die away until another note is played. What combination would match, I'm thinking of perhaps Koa Back with Ebony board? Would this help give my desired feel, what do you think? and which body and body top would suit these woods? I'm not ruling out brazilian rosewood either. Once these woods are chosen, choosing the body/top might be easier.

Or mable 3A flame maple back with an ebony board? I do intend to get the body topped too as i'm planning on 24 frets (though not an absolute must) so would need the HW rear routed.

Advice is much appreciated,

Joe

 

[kboman]

There would be a pretty noticable difference between Koa (warm and mahogany-ish) and maple (bright and snappy), but bridge type and pickups will have just as much effect on your sound. The resonance and sustain itself is more a question of the quality of all the parts of the guitar and Warmoth seems to have quite high standards when it comes to their wood.

Personally, I'd put together a mock-up that I really liked the look of, then look at what kind of sound I might expect from it and do adjustments from there. Remember to remember the character of the pickups!

 

[-CB-]

Your best sustain will be with a maple neck.  The brightest necks sustain the best.  Why?  Because they're stiffer, as seen by them being brighter (high frequencies being the first to be "absorbed" by resonance).

If you had a steel neck, it would sustain even better.  Go with a maple neck for best sustain, and if you care for a thicker neck than the standard thin, go with that. 

The neck wood, on any given guitar is the 2nd biggest tone shaping element, besides the pickups.  Body wood... a little.  Body top, for looks, very little tone shaping.  Fretboard... a very little tone shaping, all the rest being equal.  Body type - solid vs thinline is a big deal, but I find you tend to not lose a whole lot of sustain with a thinline, but do lose some.

This can lead to brightness, and you must consider that in the rest of the guitar.

The best sustaining guitar I ever had was a maple neck, with eastern hard maple body that Warmoth made for me in the 90's.  I had 57 Classics in it.... they were ideal for the Les Paul tone (actually beyond that Les Paul tone....) Long sustain, and very very nice to play.  A customer took it from me in exchange for $850 .... sigh

 

[joa]

Thanks for the help guys,

I think I'm going to do that, 3A flame maple neck in a nitro finish (ideally i'd like a D contour but i don't think warmoth do this) I know a local acoustic builder is keen to help. Ideally I'd like to go for a dark Brazilian rosewood fretboard (I'm in the UK and can't choose this option).

Given the lack of brazillian rosewood and no D contour option, I might source the neck from elsewhere, but get the body from warmoth.


thanks for the input, it really helped - I wanted maple but was worried it wouldn't feel that nice to play. but i'm going by a few fender strats I've played. I can't imagine fender are incredibly anal about the density of the maple they use to make their necks, but for most i guess it's a non issue...

Thanks again guys

 

[Jusatele]

your description of what you want makes it look like you are really looking for something you do not understand at all,
So many things about a guitar add up for the total tonal characteristics of the axe. The best way to get the vibe you are looking for, is go out and find a guitar that already is set up that way.
Guitars built to the same spec can feel different from 2 built side by side.
I would suggest not cutting edges on any part of the guitar, top quality hardware, electronics, woods etc, make sure the guy who is doing the electronics knows why he is using which pots, resisters, capacitors etc and how they are related to the pickups you have, There is more to consider than just the ohms of a pickup. Set up of the electronics also is vital, height, individual magnets, string pull, how solid the pickup is mounted, all of these affect the field it produces, then how that field is processed through the controls or lack of, and if those controls match the resistance AND capacitance of that pickup.
Tone has a lot to do with wood, but sustain can be killed with a bad solder joint or mismatched electronics.
So many DIY guitars have great wood, really nice finish jobs but they never reach their potential do to never having the neck/fret job they need as the assembler never knew of or had the money for. The electronics are bottom of the line or the hardware sucks.
Building an axe is not a cheap way to get a guitar unless you want a cheap axe. The ones you see in the showcase threads are labored over, some of the neck plates cost 100 dollars or more. Custom made this and that, and that is how they get that endless sustain and sweat tones.

 

[joa]

I definitely do know what i'm looking for. I do want it to sound like a stratocaster though so have decided to stick with woods typically used on one.

I've made lot's of notes this week - these decisions have been made based on my experience with playing different guitars and what I look for when playing... The tech who will oversee and will do most of the work, He primarily makes acoustics but makes a few electrics every year. I've never seen a fretdress or a setup done so well - a real perfectionist.

I already have a black loaded pickguard (custom shop 69's, CTS pots, cloth covered wired - mojo!!. I got a good deal on it - great to see that it will come to good use. However, I recently had a discussion with Tim @ BK pickups who is going to sort me out with something perhaps a bit hotter. The tuners will be schaller, And i'm going to use a standard stratocaster bridge from GFS (well made and reasonably priced).

I've had a good discussion with the builder, He said we'll meet 3-4 times before he'll start to the work to discuss further. I don't think that was a very fair thing to say about not understanding what i'm after, was just trying to get people to talk about wood selection, if they were pleased with it if it differed from something typical, personal experience, observations, that kind of thing. I think the problem in my earlier posts were I was debating whether or not to go for a really nice typical stratocaster build or go all out with something exotic (two different projects, I wasn't clear - I apologise) - I had that idea because I originally decided 24 frets is a must! but then the HW would then need to be rear routed... which gave me ideas about having an exotic top (As I plan to go for a natural finish on this, I think it would look odd with a natural swamp ash finish for example and without a pick-guard)  - But I've since decided that I can live without the 24frets.  Anyway, I'll let you know how I get on (with pictures).

Using the warmoth neck/body builder is cool as "these are the areas which can customised to the players taste The perfect strat neck for me would be be:


   *  CBS Stratocaster headstock
   * Shaft wood: 3A or 5A Flame Maple
   * Fingerboard Wood: brazilian rosewood (Dark) or Ebony - I know these might be tonally quite different but having played both I really wouldn't mind either.
   * Nut Width: 1-3/4" (44.45mm)
   * Back contour: D shape
   * Fingerboard radius: 10-16" Compound radius
   * Fingerboard length: 22 Frets
   * Fret size: SS Medium Jumbo
   * Tuning hole size: Schaller (25/64", 11/32")
   * Inlay: None on neck, standard on side
   * String nut: Earvana GraphTech White TUSQ
   * Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
   * Finish: Clear Satin Nitro

 

[Jusatele]

wait, you know what you are looking for, but you name in the OP 2 fret boards in the post that are on different sides of the tonal scale, and back it up with neck back choices the same way?
Neck is going get tone, what tone do you want brite or warm? your choice there will dictate your choice for sustain which is not some mojo you achieve buy getting a neck. I can get sustain out of a piece of pine. Drop a sustainer in the axe.  If you want the neck to do it, drop the Koa thing and go for basic maple.
Pick the neck for tone, now what do you want the axe to sound like?