Flamed maple necks and instability

[AprioriMark]

You could do that, but you're missing out on the best birdseye/flame I've ever seen... at a ridiculously reasonable price.  Even regular birdseye (not a huge upcharge) looks incredible.  I would stab myself in the unmentionables with a rusty spork before I ever ordered plain maple again.

-Mark

 

[Twelvebar]

I would say myth, sort of...

The fact is that figured wood is in fact weaker than non figured. Greater figuring means greater chances of faults, or holes.
The difference in shear strength is most likely insignificant in instrument making.
But the differences in shear strength might be worth paying attention to in fields like construction.
For the purposes of a guitar neck, i would think it is completely irrelevant, and the idea is just a carry over from other fields
where stresses on the wood are higher, and larger pieces are used, and it may matter more.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

My experience with maple is that if it is not dried properly it will warp significantly.  It will tear out with figuring, but it will do that with non figured as well if there is something odd in there.  The odd is not always visible.  Oil finish is a reasonable finish for maple as well.  Warmoth doesn't cover oil finishes with their warranty, but you void your warranty if you do not apply finish to the neck within, well now I can't find it, but it is something like 2 weeks to a month.  I am sure that they ran into problems with oil finishes that would not protect the wood.  I seem to remember a story from Gregg that had someone curing their neck in vegetable oil in an oven.  No joke.  There are other companies that tung oil their necks, and if it were a huge problem, I imagine it would not be an option at all.  Anywhere.

Back to the original question, if the neck were to catastrophically fail because of the wood and not something you did, I am sure that the good folks at Warmoth would take care of you.  That is way they have such a loyal following.
Patrick

 

[BassmanAK]

I imagine this might be more of an issue with a bass neck than a guitar neck.....

 

[lidesnowi]

All i know is that i have to adjust the truss rod once a week on my Tele that have a Birdseye Maple neck on it (soon to be replaced),
ALL my other guitars have Quarter sawn Maple necks on them and only requires adjustment once a year  in extreme cases maybe three times!

Where do you live? I live in Michigan, where the seasons change pretty seriously (but not to the extremes some places get to), and adjusting truss rods is not terribly common here. I know a lot of people with a number of guitars, and adjusting the truss rod is pretty much a foreign concept to just about all of them. Maybe we're all just used to playing pretzels <grin>

In my experience, usually when a guitar needs a truss rod adjustment, it's because somebody thought it needed an adjustment and tried to do it themselves.

Adjusting the truss rod isn't exactly rocket science you just need some common sense and a screw driver or Allen wrench.

I live in cold Sweden by the way.
brrrrr..................................

 

[Cagey]

Adjusting the truss rod isn't exactly rocket science you just need some common sense and a screw driver or Allen wrench.

I live in cold Sweden by the way.
brrrrr..................................

I know it's not difficult. I think what a lot of people do is decide they can improve things, and just start wrenching away until everything is so far off they're about ready to sell the instrument. They don't consider the various interactions of different adjustments, and also don't realize that most adjustments only need to be very small. They look at that truss rod nut and reef it a whole turn, then move the bridge to compensate, then start adjusting saddles, then wrench the truss rod again, then start adjusting pickup heights, on and on. Before you know it, they're taking something to the guitar shop that looks like a 4th grader's model of a suspension bridge that's been hit by a category 5 hurricane. "Why is my action so freakin' high?" they want to know. "I adjusted the truss rod 9 times, and the neck's still twisted in a Gordian knot!" <grin>

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Sorry it was a body, not a neck, but you get the idea...

Buzzy around the 7th to 9th fret area, eh? Only two things come to mind. 1) Never heard that one before and I thought I heard everything already.  2) If it were true, Warmoth probably would have fixed it after 29 years and a million necks. That would make sense, right? 

Hey, have you heard the one about the guy who put a raw Warmoth body in a baking pan, added Wesson oil and stuck it in the oven at low heat? Yep, he was trying to do his own oil finish. He called in for a warranty claim - bad glue. True story.  (I got a million of them)  :laughing7:                   

Patrick

 

[-CB-]

I got thinking about it....

I'm convinced that flame and high figure necks don't last very long.



(in the Showcase that is... )

 

[Loobs]

Choices, choices. Well, I can't do much until I get my next pay cheque anyway.

That fiesta red Tele body will be sitting here waiting for it's neck, all unhappy.