Neck wood by weight

[WindsurfMaui]

I read the neck woods notes on the Warmoth main page. However there is one item missing, in my opinion. I don't see a mention of relative weight of the various wood species. Is there already a thread where someone had listed the various wood species by weight: light, medium and heavy? I think this info would be very helpful in avoiding selecting a shaft wood that would make the neck too heavy even though it might look killer.

 

[Cagey]

I've weighed a lotta necks here, and the range is not that wide. The lightest seem to be the Rosewood over Roasted Maple parts, which will normally be about pound, and the heaviest I've seen so far has been a Brazilian Ebony that came in at 2.2 lbs.

It's funny - Maple is normally a heavy wood - you might not want to make whole body out of it. But, it seems to make the lightest necks. Most hardwoods that are suitable for necks are gonna be fairly dense woods. Heaviest I'd seen before the Brazilian Ebony piece was an Ebony over Bloodwood part at 2lbs even, but I got one in today that matched that made of Goncalo Alves. First one I've seen of that wood like that; it's not usually that heavy, but wood is variable stuff. Pau Ferro is consistently pretty heavy, but it's so pretty you don't care. Most of the other ones have been in the 1.5lbs range, give or take an ounce or two.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Thanks for the info. The difference between a pound and two pounds is big for me.  One of the reasons I kept away from the modern style neck is the weight of the extra truss rod.  But I really love ebony fretboards so I ordered a test neck, roasted maple to see how it feels when burnished, 1 3/4 because my fingers even though they are skinny feel cramped on 1 11/16 width, and stainless 6115 frets to test out stainless frets. I hope it feels as good as I think it will. I've always wanted an ebony fretboard Strat and I really love the feel of the boatneck shape so now I will have one. My original intention was to put it on a new body, that I have yet to order, but I think I will put it on a hardtail Strat i have temporarily b/c I want to play it right away. Even the satin finished Fender Strat necks have been feeling sticky in this humid weather.

I am still agonizing over which unfinished body to buy because I want it to be super light. I may order it with a battery box cut out just to get it a couple of ounces lighter even though I will probably not actually install a battery box.

 

[mysteryclock]

Sorry to revive an older thread, but Cagey can you chime in specifically on maple (roasted or otherwise) vs. solid rosewood, as a % difference?  I'm considering a build with an all-rosewood bass neck, and while I'm normally a fan of lightweight bodies I'm wondering if I should go a bit more middle of the road with the body weight in order to compensate for the neck and maintain balance, even if I'm using Hipshot Ultralights.

Any feedback is appreciated!

 

[Cagey]

Just in raw terms, Indian Rosewood is 55 lb/ft3, while hard rock Maple ranges from 39-47 lb/ft3. Roasted Maple always feels a bit  lighter to me, but I couldn't find a spec on it.

How that translates into neck weight is sorta tough to say other than given identical dimensions, a Maple neck weights about 70%-85% of what a Rosewood one would. Maple's lighter, in other words.

But, there are some things to keep in mind. First, at least with guitars, the neck is probably only 15% to 20% of the total instrument weight. So, a 15% difference in 15% of the total turns out to be a number that many won't notice. Problem is, with bass necks, they're often thicker, and they're always longer, so there's more wood there and it has a mechanical advantage on you. That means that not only does the percentage of total go up, but the length adds leverage to the thing so it feels heavier than it is.

There are other considerations such as body design and weight, hardware contribution, strap hanger locations, etc., but for strictly a wild-assed guess here, if I were a betting man, my money would be on serious neck dive with a Rosewood-necked bass. Especially when you consider most Maple necks are on the hairy edge of dive to begin with, if they're not already there.

 

[mysteryclock]

This would be for a Precision-style body project, so broadly similar to Fender's recent '57 rosewood neck P-bass.  I'm thinking that if I want to have have any shot at avoiding it turning into a south-pointing compass needle, I'll need to go with a J-width neck (planning on that anyway), un-chambered heavier body than I normally would (maybe 5/12lb+) and lightweight tuners.

The good news is that there seems to be no shortage of heavier woods for bodies, and sometimes they seem to be cheaper?

 

[Cagey]

I didn't think lighter woods carried a premium, but it appears they do, the same way all-black Ebony, figured Maple, or simply aesthetically outstanding pieces of wood do. It's a supply/demand thing.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. I ordered a Stratocaster neck with Gibson conversion scale length, quarter sawn Mahogany shaft with dark Indian Rosewood fret board with stainless steel 6100's at the end of July. It arrived on Tuesday.  It is perfect. Looks beautiful. I was surprised by how light it was for a Modern build neck. At first I though it was the shorter size but then I realized Mahogany must be lighter than roasted Maple because it feels lighter than my Roasted maple/Ebony neck. I spent today sanding the neck shape a little and then burnishing it. For raw Mahogany it actually feels very slippery. Not that far behind roasted Maple. I think I will attach it to a guitar and play it for a few weeks and then decide if I want to tru-oil it or take the chance and keep it raw. But this has been a fun experiment. Thanks again.

 

[stratamania]

You know Mahogany is not one of the woods that would normally get burnished as it does require a finish.

I would recommend that you get it finished but as you have sanded it and reshaped it and it has no warranty now in any case not finishing it will not cause you a problem there but if you like the neck you might want to preserve it by finishing it.

Oh and where are the pics of this neck?

 

[Rick]

:headbang: yeah ... Pics!

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Stratmania As long as the neck shows up with the right measurements and materials I don't worry about warranties.  may Tru-oil the head stock but I may leave the back of the shaft alone for now. These are pictures of how it arrived out of the box. I'm not sure if you can see the red tint. When I sanded the neck most of the red disappeared. I don't know if there is some red tint on the buffer wheel or if the heat from buffing brings out the red tint. And just to be clear I did not sand the heel at all so I haven't changed the heel size at all.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

  Here are a couple of pictures after sanding to show the change in color. I liked the red tint but I like the plain tan wood shade also.

 

[stratamania]

Nice neck.

I mention the warranty aspect for the benefit of others who may read the thread as much as anything else.

As I said you may not be bothered about the warranty but really there is a reason a finish is recommended for mahogany. Truoil on the headstock alone is going to do nothing to help against moisture and dirt getting into it from elsewhere. Its your neck but don't say nobody warned you if your plan doesn't work out.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Stratamania I appreciate your warning. I don't disagree with you. However I have turned back to my old hippie ways and am returning to nature. That is my experiment is to have a neck without finish and a guitar body without finish. I have a Warmoth Strat roasted maple/Ebony neck with ss6115 fret wire. This unfinished neck is really perfect for me.

However, I wanted to experiment with a Gibson conversion scale neck so I ordered this Warmoth Strat Gibson conversion in Mahogany with Dark Indian Rosewood with ss6100 fret wire. So I get three experiments in one, Mahogany, Gibson length and 6100 size fret wire. Mahogany and Gibson length for tone differences and ss6100 fret wire because I have fret size envy. I tried to have the neck made in roasted Mahogany and got Warmoth to agree, with a rather large up charge, if I could supply a neck blank of which met the quality of the neck blank met their quality standards. I was unable to find a roasted Mahogany neck blank anywhere in the U.S. So I settled for the Warmoth quarter sawn neck.

I could be wrong but I am hoping that because the neck is quarter sawn and that it is a boatneck shape which is their deepest neck shape that I won't have a problem with warping. I have burnished it to 1200 grit and the neck feels closed and almost as slippery as my roasted maple neck which is a pleasant surprise to me. But if over time I sense a problem I will add a Tru-oil finish.

Next will be a body. I had originally though I could get a roasted Ash body and sand it smooth and not add a finish but if this Mahogany neck stands up I may get a Mahogany body , sand it and see what happens. I originally was mesmerized by the shiny painted finishes and the flame maple tops and my first build is a Warmoth quilted maple top. But now I want to move back to a more functional than pretty guitar. I am just happy that this roasted wood trend is here so I can take advantage of it.  :>)

 

[stratamania]

Well I wish you well with your hippy experimenting...lets hope it all turns out far out...but not too far out  :icon_thumright: