scratch bass build--WOOD questions

[dmraco]

I am considering building a scratch build bass for my son for his birthday.  It will be of Semi hollow design. 

I wanted to do a neck thru multi lam with Bubinga and wenge.  The body would be Padauk.  None of these woods need a finish.  However I would like to use a piece of CURLY MAHOGANY I was able to get my hand on for lam top.  I was considering using boiled linseed oil to protect it. 

Two questions?

--is the linseed oil enough protection for the mahogany?
--would it hurt t he other woods if there were to get a coating of the oil too?

Thanks

 

[Cagey]

I'm speaking totally out of turn here, not having any direct experience with what you're planning on doing. But, I don't think you have to worry about the oil hurting any of those woods as much as the fact that they may not take it. Also, I suspect you might have some gluing problems with all of them. They're all fairly oily/waxy woods that don't glue up well. Maybe if you use something really aggressive like epoxy, you could do it. But, usually those woods need fasteners to attach them to anything else. But, I could be wrong.

 

[dmraco]

I'm speaking totally out of turn here, not having any direct experience with what you're planning on doing. But, I don't think you have to worry about the oil hurting any of those woods as much as the fact that they may not take it. Also, I suspect you might have some gluing problems with all of them. They're all fairly oily/waxy woods that don't glue up well. Maybe if you use something really aggressive like epoxy, you could do it. But, usually those woods need fasteners to attach them to anything else. But, I could be wrong.

this is interesting point.  I wold think it would be done done Warmoth uses it for their necks.

 

[Cagey]

They use those woods individually to build necks, but they don't have any laminate build-ups of them, and I think it has to do with the glue issue I brought up earlier. Even where they build them completely out of a single species, in some cases they won't do tilt-back headstocks and I think it's for the same reason - can't make a reliable scarf joint. Even woods that do glue up well such as mahogany end up weak at that kind of joint, which is why you see so many Gibsons with broken heads.

Most of the glue-up multi-lam necks I've seen have been done using maple and walnut, although I do have a buddy who has a laminated neck guitar that used purpleheart for a couple layers. I wouldn't have thought that would work out well, but it's a good 20 years old now, and there's no delamination, warpage or twisting going on. Weighs a million pounds, though <grin>

It's possible that if you used an aggressive solvent such as naptha or acetone to clean the glue surfaces that it would work out ok. I don't know. But, it's worth some research before you start cutting things up and investing a lot of labor into the idea.

 

[dmraco]

our right...I checked and all of those necks are one piece.  Maple and walnut would be a good option  too.  I will just have to finish it.

I did some research and wenge can be glued, it just has to be done right after it is cut.  I do not want to risk it considering the stress on a bass neck.

 

[Cagey]

A number of members here are highly enamoured of wenge for a neck wood, with either an ebony or pau ferro fretboard. None of those need a finish, and they're very good woods for bass necks and fretboards. It would satisfy your desire for an exotic neck, be very attractive, and sound/play/wear well. Just be careful if you're going to fab it up yourself with ebony - I understand the dust can be somewhat toxic.

 

[dmraco]

wenge can be toxic.  Africans use the dust from Wenge trees to paralyze fish....

 

[AutoBat]

wenge can be toxic.  Africans use the dust from Wenge trees to paralyze fish....

interesting.  where did you hear this?  i checked google and came up with no relevant hits.
the wiki article says it can be irritating akin to poison ivy for some that work with the wood.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Mr Wez Venables (who shortly posted here)  built a neck thru body guitar with Bubinga-Maple-Wenge neck and I've never heard of any problem it had...

Plus, he finished the Wenge top with oil and it was alright too

 

[djf67]

Prep the wood properly (sanded, not straight off the planer) and clamp up well and they'll glue fine.
You can finish mahogany with just oil.
You can finish the others with oil if you like. See some of my builds -
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=9202.0
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=8715.0
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=11276.0

Or check http://www.crimsonguitars.com/ for some serious wood porn...

 

[kboman]

I was just about to mention Crimson Guitars, they do stuff like this all the time (Orpheo's upcoming guitars are prime examples). Prep well, use good wood glue and clamp it up like there's no tomorrow and you should be fine :icon_thumright:

 

[dmraco]

thanks for all the comments.  Lots of choices here.  Also considering a combo of Walnut and Maple for the neck....this one is going to be interesting.