Lightest to heaviest neck woods

[Mincer]

I have a lightweight strat ash body, and don't want the guitar to end up neck-heavy. With common shaft woods (or even exotic ones), what is the general lightest-to-heaviest list? I really only have experience with maple, roasted maple, and wenge (but don't know where wenge would be on that list).

 

[Rick]

Checkout the wood database

https://www.wood-database.com/

 

[ruscio]

I'm very interested in weights of guitar parts, or I should say that my neck and shoulder are very interested, so I've paid a lot of attention to what every part of many of my guitars weigh. There really isn't much variability due to neck woods because the neck itself weighs so much less than the body. I can't say I've sampled a wide variety of woods, nor that I've sampled many specimens of each type, but the Warmoth necks I've weighed have all been between 1.1 to 1.4 pounds out of the box. My two canary necks with rosewood fretboards have been the lightest, but not by much, and I think it probably has more to do with the fact that they're "vintage modern" rather than "modern" and it's really the different truss rods that matter more than the different woods. I've read that the side-adjust truss rod weighs about .25 pounds more than others.

So the only advice I'd offer is to avoid the side-adjust truss rod of a modern construction Warmoth neck if you want to minimize neck weight. Beyond that, the wood database would give you some info on relative densities of the various woods and, if it's compatible with your playing style, you could opt for a thinner neck profile to shave off a little weight.

 

[Mincer]

Great info, thank you!

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

My one tiny tidbit of advice that I can offer to this question: Avoid a Brazilian Ebony neck. Ask me how I know

 

[teleme01]

My one tiny tidbit of advice that I can offer to this question: Avoid a Brazilian Ebony neck. Ask me how I know

I agree that Brazilian ebony is heavy, roasted maple is pretty light,

 

[Rick]

Also, neck drop depends a lot on geometry, i must have been lucky with neck drop when it comes to strats, not a problem, it's not the same as with a tele or an LP. The solution for me with the tele is get a strap that has leather backing and live with it. I love me some teles.

 

[aarontunes]

Also, neck drop depends a lot on geometry...

100%.

 

[aarontunes]

Here's the weight

I'm very interested in weights of guitar parts, or I should say that my neck and shoulder are very interested, so I've paid a lot of attention to what every part of many of my guitars weigh. There really isn't much variability due to neck woods because the neck itself weighs so much less than the body. I can't say I've sampled a wide variety of woods, nor that I've sampled many specimens of each type, but the Warmoth necks I've weighed have all been between 1.1 to 1.4 pounds out of the box. My two canary necks with rosewood fretboards have been the lightest, but not by much, and I think it probably has more to do with the fact that they're "vintage modern" rather than "modern" and it's really the different truss rods that matter more than the different woods. I've read that the side-adjust truss rod weighs about .25 pounds more than others.

So the only advice I'd offer is to avoid the side-adjust truss rod of a modern construction Warmoth neck if you want to minimize neck weight. Beyond that, the wood database would give you some info on relative densities of the various woods and, if it's compatible with your playing style, you could opt for a thinner neck profile to shave off a little weight.

 

[u.9]

Also, neck drop depends a lot on geometry

^^ This ^^

get a strap that has leather backing

+1. Suede backing holds the strap in position on the shoulder. It can take some getting used to.

Also, a wider strap helps distribute the load better over the shoulder. I found this out when handcrafting leather guitar straps. The width and less elastic 7-9oz leather of my 3" models (backed with 2-3oz suede split) made even my heaviest guitars a breeze to sling, and a few of my customers had the same experience. I 'd planned to try 4" straps but got out of it before then.

 

[Mincer]

Currently, this strat has an ash body, with a maple cap, and a wenge/ebony vintage/modern neck. It is neck-heavy. A wide strap helps, and I even have attached a 1lb ankle weight to the body strap connection, which works, but isn't ideal. I find myself playing the Velocity I built a lot more, and that is absolutely due to the balance.

 

[J-Bones]

In my experience...

Lightest: Mahogany, Koa, Roasted Maple, Maple, Korina, Walnut

Medium-Light: Canary, Padouk, Bocote

Medium-Heavy: Purpleheart, Wenge, Rosewood, Bubinga, Goncalo, Pau Ferro

Wow That's Heavy: Ebony, Brazilian Ebony, Bloodwood

 

[ruscio]

Here's the weight

Yes! That must be where I learned that the modern construction is about 3 oz heavier, though I misremembered it as a quarter pound. Very nicely controlled, I always appreciate that attention to detail!. Thanks for sharing this here again.

 

[Mincer]

In my experience...

Lightest: Mahogany, Koa, Roasted Maple, Maple, Korina, Walnut

Medium-Light: Canary, Padouk, Bocote

Medium-Heavy: Purpleheart, Wenge, Rosewood, Bubinga, Goncalo, Pau Ferro

Wow That's Heavy: Ebony, Brazilian Ebony, Bloodwood

This helps! Thank you!

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

I even have attached a 1lb ankle weight to the body strap connection, which works, but isn't ideal.

Reminds me: Back in the early 80s I had a friend who played bass in a punk-rock band, and his instrument was a super-cheap complete POS offshore no-name bass that had severe neck dive. His solution was to tie a men's size 11 heavy-duty steel-toe workboot to the body strap connection! Definitely fit in with the band's punk image, and I will concede that it did compensate for the neck dive.

 

[Don O]

Reminds me: Back in the early 80s I had a friend who played bass in a punk-rock band, and his instrument was a super-cheap complete POS offshore no-name bass that had severe neck dive. His solution was to tie a men's size 11 heavy-duty steel-toe workboot to the body strap connection! Definitely fit in with the band's punk image, and I will concede that it did compensate for the neck dive.

Talk about neck dive, this is a friend of mine that made his own double neck (and 27 other guitars). Look closely and you’ll see he has a LEG strap for the guitar!

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, I want to avoid weights and leg straps if I could...haha.

My ideal is sort of like my Music Man: I can rest the body on one leg and take my hands off the guitar and it just sits there. My Velocity does that, too.

 

[u.9]

From a sitting position, body geometry also influences neck dive depending on how fore or aft the "hip" of the body is from the neck pocket and how much mass is on each end of the hip. So, body style and wood choices for one guitar may not transalate equally to another.

I hadn't realized just how much variance there was in hip location before mocking it up recently. Bear in mind that even though the Jazzmaster hip is farthest back (from the neck pocket) in comparison to many other bodies, it's actually very nearly centered on its own body. Maybe this means a lighter neck wood or shorter scale length is useful to avoid dive? Whereas a Strat can get away with a heavier neck or longer scale length?



As always, a lot of variables to consider, and it's easy to get lost down that rabbit hole. But, even though my baritone Strat can dive a bit when sitting down, a quick shift of about an inch on the leg and it rests perfectly stable.

 

[bagman67]

Bear in mind that even though the Jazzmaster hip is farthest back (from the neck pocket) in comparison to many other bodies, it's actually very nearly centered on its own body.

There's a lot more meat south of the bridge on the Jazzmaster, so it's not surprising the COG is where it is:



I don't know if this is a helpful comment or just me making noise.