lightest neck woods? (1st time poster)

bossanova

Newbie
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Hi all, new here. Am looking for advice as I need a very light neck for my (fake) RW tele. I'm afraid if I get a RW neck it will be dive city.

What are the lightest neck woods warmoth offers?
 
I cannot answer your question regard wood weight but I would suggest you be check about truss rod weights on the different truss rod systems you can have built into your neck. I think the vintage style truss rod is the lightest but I could be wrong, so check with Warmoth.
 
Welcome to the forum!

Tonar's right in that the vintage trussrod is the lightest, but it's not a huge difference anyway. Maybe a few ounces.

The heaviest necks I've ever encountered have been Bloodwood and Ebony, and they only run about 2lbs even with a good trussrod and locking tuners installed. The lightest have been roasted Maple, oddly enough. They come in at about 1lb loaded. In any event, the design of a Tele body is such that even with a heavy neck, you won't have to worry about neck dive. Most neck dive with guitars is caused more by poor forward strap hanger placement rather than neck weight. A good example would be the Gibson SG/Melody Maker series. Basses are different, because those necks are much heavier, plus they're long to the point where it's difficult to get the forward strap hanger ahead of the center of gravity.
 
Thanks!

I've got a modern maple/pau ferro on a tele, and an incoming vintage/modern roasted maple/rw, can't wait to compare.

Thanks for all the great material on this forum, long-time lurker here  :yourock:
 
I wouldn't be worried about neck weight, in this case. Use lightweight tuners, of course, but don't worry about wood choice.
 
I don't know if its the lightest but Vintage/Modern Roasted Maple is pretty dang light.  You're going to love yours!

Echoing line6man, tuners will be a bigger factor.  I think Sperzel makes Aluminum tuners so they're more lightweight but they're difficult to install... YouTube it (it's hard to explain in text).

I think Kluson tuners are lightweight especially with plastic tuner buttons.  Or just get your preferred tuners but get plastic tuner buttons which most companies should carry, or at least sold separately... it'll reduce about 25% of the weight. 
 
I've had the neck for a few days, and I'm very impressed. Love the smell of roasted maple! It has a dark RW board that is just beautiful, 6100 SS frets that absolutely rock, and, yes, super light, which I definitely prefer over the modern construction.

I was going to sand it, but it feels plenty smooth to me, so I may just leave it as is. I did some slight finessing of the nut myself, and may take it in to have the edges rolled by someone who knows what they're doing.

Overall, mightily impressed!
 
bossanova said:
I was going to sand it, but it feels plenty smooth to me, so I may just leave it as is.

As the owner of three raw necks (bubinga, pau ferro and roasted maple) I highly recommend burnishing.  See this:  http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=19901.0  You think it's smooth now?  You ain't seen nuthin' yet.  Start with 800 grit and slowly work it up to 2000 or 3000.  800 takes off the fuzz.  At 3000 you're more buffing than sanding.
 
did it, and wow..! good news is i was also able to get my tru-oil finished maple neck to feel almost the same as the raw roasted one. I went 400-600-1200-2000-2500. Thank you!
 
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