Which neck profile? Which neck wood?

[warcripp]

I’m looking at getting a Brazilian ebony neck. It looks like they only have standard thin options available and aren’t available on the builder, however, they do have wenge. I really like the boatneck neck profile as on of my other strats have it. I’m kinda torn between getting a boatneck wenge neck and a standard thin Brazilian ebony neck

 

[Rick]

How much neck experimentation have you done?  If you’ve only played fat necks go with something a little thinner like a Wolfgang.  If you’ve only played maple shafts then try a wenge.  With apologies to Pablo Neruda, neck experimentation can be so short, finding a good one is so long.

 

[warcripp]

My other strat has a relatively thin neck  and I prefer thicker necks over thinner but not sure if a Warmoth standard thin would be up my alley or not.

 

[spe111]

I have a Brazilian ebony neck and a wenge neck. I definitely prefer the wenge one. The Brazilian ebony neck is very heavy; the wenge is too, but not quite as much. The guitar with the Brazilian neck has kind of a dead sound, I blame the neck although I haven't tried a different neck on that body.

 

[TBurst Std]

Call the W.  I have a BE Tele neck that is a 59. It weighs so much I use it as a weapon LOL. I think Cagey said it was 2.2 lbs. 

 

[BroccoliRob]

Duuuude this so #prescient, like I was just pondering a brazilain ebony neck purchase this past weekend. I was pumping myself up so big but then watched a news report that convinced me to chill down and not stress my heart.

It's good to know that wood is very heavy. That's just how daddy likes 'em. Does anybody know if the feel is anything like Goncalo alves, or is it smoother or rougher? I liked that wood feel so much I sanded the down on my maple neck to make it similar but it only kinda worked.

There's like that saying like when you had a really good meal, you know "bone apple tea". That's how I describe my Big W stuff.

 

[warcripp]

think I might go with wenge… its hard not to get stoked over a new guitar build though

 

[Wolff05]

It's good to know that wood is very heavy. That's just how daddy likes 'em. Does anybody know if the feel is anything like Goncalo alves, or is it smoother or rougher? I liked that wood feel so much I sanded the down on my maple neck to make it similar but it only kinda worked.

As someone that handles both daily, Brazilian Ebony is the smoothest of smooth. Similar to Goncalo, but even smoother.

 

[Cagey]

Right. The Brazilian Ebony is a very tight grain, although not as tight as Gabon Ebony. Doesn't have that hard plastic feel that a high-grade black Gabon Ebony does. More like a very tight, dark Rosewood. Burnishes up very nicely, so it's ultra-smooth.

Wenge is just the opposite. The grain is so open it's almost like a molded part. Plays great, though. Very fast, probably attributable to the fact that you're not actually touching 20%-30% of the wood you normally would so there's less friction, plus the surface is kinda slick as is.

Both are heavy, although the Brazilian Ebony wins that category. Some of the heaviest necks I've ever handled. Probably couldn't use it on a Bass or Baritone fiddle's neck without the headstock just dragging the floor all the time.

 

[Cactus Jack]

I have both a Boatneck and Wolfgang. Personally, Wolfgang is a bit too thin for my liking, and I'm not a fan of the V with the Boatneck. As such, I landed on the 59 Roundback, which may be my favorite neck profile of all time and have them on 4 guitars. If you're interested in Wolfgang, but want something a bit thicker the SRV would be a natural fit.

 

[BroccoliRob]

Burnishing, every person in this forum seems to be all about the burnishing. Does it really make it play any better? Or just a visual thing? I'm over here twerkin and that just aint werkin for my head.

 

[Cagey]

It works on everything, but the difference is more profound on some woods than others. On tightly grained woods like Roasted Maple, Bloodwood, or Pau Ferro, it's absolutely magical. On others, it's just plain great. The only one I haven't seen a substantial improvement on is Wenge, but I've only done one. But, others have reported it as a worthwhile thing on that wood as well.

It really is a slow process, though. You get down to those very fine grits and they just don't cut very fast. It takes a while to get results, so patience is the order of the day. That's why it's good to have a movie to watch or something that'll not require a great deal of attention while you do something mindless for an hour or so.

 

[warcripp]

I might just go with a 59 neck profile and give it a good ole college try

 

[warcripp]

I ordered my neck today modern construction Brazilian ebony neck with ebony fretboard. Boatneck profile with 6150 frets, 1 11/16 nut width. Much less than I thought it would be, but being a custom order it’s going to take 5 weeks to get to me.

 

[BroccoliRob]

Boatneck, eh? that's one of the big mama jammas. i haven't tried one of those - i hope you love it! guitar necks are like shoes, you dig? gotta find the one that fits and sometimes it takes a few tries. like I was at the Crocs kiosk in the mall back when they first got big in, what, 2005? So there I was testing some of the models out, Crocing around (walking with the Crocs on) but the lady that worked there pushed me down and pulled them off my feet and said "no indians!". i was like, first of all it's native american, and second of all, if you're going to have a rule like that it should only apply to 100% native or at least 50%+. She just shrugged and told me to leave. the thing is that I'm only about 1/64 native american and she could only tell because I was wearing my feathers that day. if Crocs hate us so much they should at least put up a sign. i haven't tried to buy them again so maybe their policy has changed since Obama's in office

 

[swarfrat]

I'm a fan of boatnecks after trying a couple fatbacks. The lack of taper on the fatback was unnerving.

 

[warcripp]

One of my other guitars is a fatback. That one is just a little too much for me, but the boatneck is really comfortable