Bubinga for a guitar neck, anyone? Thoughts, opinions please.

[Vol. Knob]

Who likes it?  Who doesn't?  And why?


About two years ago I sold a bass and some guitars so I could build this....

Its a Warmoth body, the neck was Karosa.  Pickups are Reed James Custom.

The guitar sounds great.  Nice to look at.  After lots and lots of work, I was able to make the Karosa neck work. 
However, another guitar of mine's Karosa neck ceased to be adjustable.  Karosa's truss rods are home-made crap that don't do squat.
After a ton of work, I installed  new truss in that neck.  But don't even want to bother replacing the truss in this neck.  So....

I have a new neck that just shipped on Monday from Warmoth.  Its Bubinga (to match the top) with an Ebony fingerboard.  Standard thin profile, Jumbo Stainless frets and an Earvana nut.

One thing that strikes me about Bubinga is how hard it is.  Drilling the control holes for this guitar was eye opening.  I looked up an online wood hardness chart and Bubinga is one of the harder ones.  I like the sound of that, it should stay nice and straight.  Its also brighter than the Goncalo Alves that was on it, so that should pair well with the P-90s, not that I had any unhappiness with the Goncalo Alves.

UPS shows that it shows up on the 6th, the day before I turn 41.  I'm chomping at the bit.  Pics will post upon its arrival...

 

[Soylent]

Mr. Vol. Knobby.

My W tele has a bubinga neck, with ebony board. It's definitely firm, and it feels great. Very solid feeling, maybe.. dense feeling. It's great stuff and I know you'll love it!

 

[Soylent]

Marko you've played that tele more than a few times, what are your thoughts?

 

[m4rk0]

That sounds right.. it feels very hard, and has a polished feel to it... I quite like it.

 

[Vol. Knob]

Outstanding.  I chatted with a fellow Warmoth fan about Bubuinga on a neck just yesterday when he came into my jewelry store.  He's a bassist, but insists I'll like it on a guitar.  He said it has a waxy feel and will brighten up my guitar, which will be good for it.  Its a tad on the dark side with P-90s and a semi hollow body. 

He suggested that I leave it raw and not wipe it down with Tung Oil.  I might... I might not...  The jury is still out, naturally until I actually have the neck in my hands.

I'm curious to see more pics of that Tele, that's some mighty light looking mahagony on the backside.  Mine is a light golden brown as well, all I did was wipe it down with Tung Oil.

I notice you two gentlemen have a similar collar...  is that a religious thing?

 

[Nando Vallart]

The Big Dutch became the French flower?? Man, this forum is really going down :laughing7:

 

[Mor Paul]

I notice you two gentlemen have a similar collar...  is that a religious thing?

You may have missed it, it's a joke. Luke really looks like this:

 

[Soylent]

That's not me,

Also, here you go.  (EDIT) Mine is true-oiled, and the neck is left raw.

 

[m4rk0]

we need pool pictures of that... these don't do it justice..

 

[riverbluff]

Got a Bubinga neck on my LP. 

IMG_0091 by riverbluff4, on Flickr

This guitar is a little over 2 years old and the neck feels great.  It is a very hard wood with a tight grain that has started to get a polished feel the more it is played.  I would highly recommend this wood.


IMG_0092 by riverbluff4, on Flickr

V/R
Bill

 

[DangerousR6]

I notice you two gentlemen have a similar collar...  is that a religious thing?

You may have missed it, it's a joke. Luke really looks like this:

Yip, this was from Makro and Luke meeting Ozzy last year.... :toothy12:

 

[Orpheo]

Outstanding.  I chatted with a fellow Warmoth fan about Bubuinga on a neck just yesterday when he came into my jewelry store.  He's a bassist, but insists I'll like it on a guitar.  He said it has a waxy feel and will brighten up my guitar, which will be good for it.  Its a tad on the dark side with P-90s and a semi hollow body. 

He suggested that I leave it raw and not wipe it down with Tung Oil.  I might... I might not...  The jury is still out, naturally until I actually have the neck in my hands.

I'm curious to see more pics of that Tele, that's some mighty light looking mahagony on the backside.  Mine is a light golden brown as well, all I did was wipe it down with Tung Oil.

I notice you two gentlemen have a similar collar...  is that a religious thing?

oiling it is absolutely pointless. its so hard, it won't take up much oil, and it will only gung up the feel.

bubinga has a bright, shimering 'sheen' to the tone, but a chunky, tight low. It made my all-walnut LP sound great. not thin, not icepicky, which is associated with walnut les pauls/guitars. its got bite, its got chunk. like a good looking woman! enough meet to grab a hold to, but on the more skinny side purpleheart will be too skinny, so to say (for my purposes). Purpleheart sounds REALLY bright and with a lot of attack. it took me several pickupsets to get my purpleheart-neck'd LP sound good (the second, the first sounded great, but only because its a solid mahogany/koa LP, with slightly overwound pickups).


so, yeah, bubinga is great where wenge howls in the mids (howls, not hollow, it really has great mids, imho, mahogany is hollow in the midrange) bubinga is crunchy in the mids.


just to compare the toens a bit. the feel is like glass. at least, thats my association with it. Purpleheart feels a bit like rosewood, but much cooler. bubinga feels tighter than ziricote, and less waxy, oily than ziricote or cocobolo.

 

[m4rk0]

I notice you two gentlemen have a similar collar...  is that a religious thing?

You may have missed it, it's a joke. Luke really looks like this:

Yip, this was from Makro and Luke meeting Ozzy last year.... :toothy12:

you are right..
I took that picture and can confirm that that is Luke.....

 

[DangerousR6]

I notice you two gentlemen have a similar collar...  is that a religious thing?

You may have missed it, it's a joke. Luke really looks like this:

Yip, this was from Makro and Luke meeting Ozzy last year.... :toothy12:

you are right..
I took that picture and can confirm that that is Luke.....

Did Ozzy try to book a trip on Hotels.com?........ :laughing11:

 

[Vol. Knob]

Work in progress...

 

[Steve_Karl]

oiling it is absolutely pointless. its so hard, it won't take up much oil, and it will only gung up the feel.

bubinga has a bright, shimering 'sheen' to the tone, but a chunky, tight low. It made my all-walnut LP sound great. not thin, not icepicky, which is associated with walnut les pauls/guitars. its got bite, its got chunk. like a good looking woman! enough meet to grab a hold to, but on the more skinny side purpleheart will be too skinny, so to say (for my purposes). Purpleheart sounds REALLY bright and with a lot of attack. it took me several pickupsets to get my purpleheart-neck'd LP sound good (the second, the first sounded great, but only because its a solid mahogany/koa LP, with slightly overwound pickups).


so, yeah, bubinga is great where wenge howls in the mids (howls, not hollow, it really has great mids, imho, mahogany is hollow in the midrange) bubinga is crunchy in the mids.


just to compare the toens a bit. the feel is like glass. at least, thats my association with it. Purpleheart feels a bit like rosewood, but much cooler. bubinga feels tighter than ziricote, and less waxy, oily than ziricote or cocobolo.

Good description and especially because you compared it to wenge.

Thank you!

 

[Vol. Knob]

I drilled the tuning peg holes to the correct diameter tonite.  Tomorrow I'll finally string this baby up.  After feeling the neck, I don't plan on oiling it at all.  I'm gonna leave it raw.

 

[willievega]

Do yourself a favor and let your own oils (from your hands) work into that Bubinga neck. It will be killer. I've been playing raw necks for over 20 years and they work out great. I sanded down a Bubinga neck to make it thinner. That left it really raw (more than from the factory).  Later, to accelerate the 'oiling' process I used slices of hard salami on the raw neck. It helped.  Believe it or not!

 

[Disco Scottie]

Do yourself a favor and let your own oils (from your hands) work into that Bubinga neck. It will be killer. I've been playing raw necks for over 20 years and they work out great. I sanded down a Bubinga neck to make it thinner. That left it really raw (more than from the factory).  Later, to accelerate the 'oiling' process I used slices of hard salami on the raw neck. It helped.  Believe it or not!

I refuse to touch a neck that smells of salami. That's where I draw the line.

 

[elfro89]

I swear that one day I will play with every type of wood out there...wait a second... :doh: