Fossilized Maple

[Cagey]

Incidentally, if anybody's curious, the neck that started this thread ended up going for $220.17 plus shipping.

 

[smjenkins]

Nice auction end price.  Sounds like the market can smell BS too. 

 

[-CB-]

Fossilized maple neck = Neck recently played by Keith Richards  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

The baking, toasting, fossilizing process, do they do that before or after the neck is carved?

 

[Cagey]

My guess is they do it after. From what I understand, the process makes the wood brittle. Maple already wants to tear out when machined - making it harder or more brittle would exacerbate that characteristic. They'd not only end up with an intolerable amount of scrap, the low yield would raise the price to unacceptable levels.

 

[ptirman]

Fossilized maple neck = Neck recently played by Keith Richards  :icon_biggrin:

Hah! At least his teeth are looking great these days.

 

[BassmanAK]

I agree with AGWAN's comment: Fossilized means it has turns to stone, this neck obviously hasn't!

That alone gets me being defensive on the BS meter straight away, why not just announce it as kiln dried/roasted maple? (which they do later in the text)

From the Roasted Maple neck page.....

    * Adds dimensional stability and resistance to temperature and humidity changes
    * Increases resistance to warping
    * Reduces density while maintaining stiffness for a lighter neck with sufficient strength
    * Yields a microstructure similar to naturally aged woods with lower moisture content
    * More resonance and less damping
    * Eliminates the need for hazardous chemical treatments
    * Vibrational testing indicates that roasted maple exhibits clearer tone with a stronger fundamental than untreated maple samples

Believe it or not, a certain amount of the science is legit.  My best friend is a research scientist for Weyerhauser and was involved in some of the early research.  It does work, but can become very brittle and difficult to work with.  So.... lets's see.  It's the cool new thing on the block, but is is really better than a well built neck made of traditional woods?  Probably not, but it sure makes for great marketing!

I'd give the idea about ten years of good hard road work before wanting to go for it. If what Wyliee suggest is a possibility of it becoming brittle that may only show up after a period of time of use (abuse?). Graphite necks were once the great new idea, so too aluminium necks, but they both were found wanting in the real world. And expensive. We are still, in the vast majority, using organic materials for the neck woods....

Disclaimer: IMHO!!!!

I take issue with graphite necks lacking....
I've had a Modulus for the last 12 years, and have found it to be the answer to the dead spot/uneven tone/
staying in tune/recording/you name it, problems that SO many basses exhibit.....
That said, I would agree that for a GUITAR, wood (roasted or not) is the preferable material....
I find that most guitars don't need too much help in the definition department that pickups can't fix,
whereas it's the rare bass that comes out of the box not needing some sort of help....
It's nice to not have to boost whatever frequency to get a sound.
But then again, I'm not one of those players that likes the dead as a doornail
flats on P-Bass tone....

 

[back2thefutre]

bump

http://cgi.ebay.com/Charvel-Custom-Carbonized-Abella-San-Dimas-Guitar-F-R-/110578590054?pt=Guitar&hash=item19beff6166

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Charvel-Custom-Carbonized-Abella-San-Dimas-Guitar-F-R-/110578590054?pt=Guitar&hash=item19beff6166

That is a beaut.  This pic makes me think the neck carving happens after toasting/carbonizing because the skunk strip appears to be Maple too.  It would stand to reason if the skunk stripe would be dark too if done afterwords.

All that attention to detail, and the spacing of the pickup is overlooked?

 

[stubhead]

Many manufacturers of plus-$2000 guitars are able to instantly cure my G.A.S. by not bothering to make a guitar where the strings go RIGHT OVER THE POLEPIECES, and the strings DON'T FALL OFF THE EDGE OF THE NECK. Schecter and Ibanez can get this right on their $400 guitars, but Fender and Gibson can't be troubled to do so on their top of the line signature guitars... it's especially weird when they take out a full-page ad in Guitar Player magazine and show excruciating CLOSE-UPS of their mis-aligned guitars, with the added treat of barbed-wire fretwork. Well, duh. :icon_scratch:

 

[rapfohl09]

Looks like they just didnt get a f-space pickup, beautiful guitar otherwise.

Also I would like to say, that hunk out of the forearm contour looks bad a$$!

 

[Superlizard]

All that attention to detail, and the spacing of the pickup is overlooked?

It's very possible that said camera shot isn't 100% parallel to the guitar... I sense a very slight angle there.

 

[Superlizard]

...that said:

"Dude, my guitar is baked !"

 

[RiverCity28]

I haven't read the entire thread but I'd like to see a "roasted" maple option on the necks from Warmoth.  MusicMan just recently started offering roasted necks on their new orders (for a very limited time???)  Anyway, I understand that MusicMan purchases the roasted maple stock from their supplier and then subsequently cuts the necks.  They are gorgeous.

Take a look here:  http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-guitars/47032-roasted-has-landed.html
And here:  http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/46958-roasted-sneak-peak.html

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

It's very possible that said camera shot isn't 100% parallel to the guitar... I sense a very slight angle there.

I thought about that too.  If there were much if any parallax error going on here, one of the E stings would look perfect.  Even with the camera not squared off on the guitar, both E strings still fall outside of th epole pieces.  D and G are the closest.  E, A, B, and E are all on the outside.

 

[rapfohl09]

It's very possible that said camera shot isn't 100% parallel to the guitar... I sense a very slight angle there.

I thought about that too.  If there were much if any parallax error going on here, one of the E stings would look perfect.  Even with the camera not squared off on the guitar, both E strings still fall outside of th epole pieces.  D and G are the closest.  E, A, B, and E are all on the outside.

+1, one of them would line up if it was just at a bad angle, BOTH strings wouldnt be outside the pole pieces.

 

[Nando Vallart]

It's very possible that said camera shot isn't 100% parallel to the guitar... I sense a very slight angle there.

I thought about that too.  If there were much if any parallax error going on here, one of the E stings would look perfect.  Even with the camera not squared off on the guitar, both E strings still fall outside of th epole pieces.  D and G are the closest.  E, A, B, and E are all on the outside.

+2

That's why most pickup makers build F-spaced pickups...

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

It's been argued to death if F-spaced even does anything, but all this detail and that one overlooked.