Help me choose a neck

[Kinderamnnn]

Hi,

I'm currently planning a hardtail Jazzmaster for clean work, the body is going to be Alder with a swamp ash top (for looks) and I'm stumped on neck woods. I was going to go for Indian rosewood on maple but is there a better, exotic option for rich clean sounds with Jazzmaster pickups?

I've attached the mock up of the body

 

[Cagey]

Canary is a good replacement for Maple, doesn't require a finish, and polishes up to a fine satin feel that's a joy to play. Put an Ebony fretboard on there with some stainless frets, and it would match up to that body, be very clear and articulate, and comfortable to play forever without maintenance.

 

[crash]

If it were my guitar, one of these two:

Padauk/Ebony
Goes well with the red in the Black-Red-Yellow burst.  Padauk is on the bright side of neck woods.

Canary/Ebony
Goes well with the yellow in your burst.  Plus all the good things Cagey said above.

 

[Kinderamnnn]

Thanks for the advice guys, with a canary neck would it be advisable to get it finished? I'm looking for a neck to last me a lifetime and would hate for it to warp down the line, what are the pros/cons?

 

[Cagey]

Canary will remain stable without a finish. However, you may want to review this thread on burnishing the raw wood for a better feel/appearance.

 

[Kinderamnnn]

Ok cheers, I'll go for the canary and have a go at burnishing

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I built something along those lines with a Wenge/Rosewood neck.  It is a very articulate guitar, and one that people usually look twice at.
Patrick

 

[Kinderamnnn]

Another quick question, what's the opinion on unfinished necks with binding, would this cause any issues?

 

[Cagey]

Most necks don't have a finish on the fretboard, which exposes the long edges of the binding. If anything was going to happen to it, that would be the situation to exacerbate it. The vast majority of binding is just ABS plastic these days, which happily and stably exists in a range of temperature/humidity wider than humans can stand. Warmoth (among others) apparently doesn't worry about it, since they make necks like that all the time. I just ordered one myself.