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In your most qualified opinion...is there a real difference when it comes to making necks from scratch?

Stewmac sells the Sipo for about half the price of Honduran and a little research shows they are very similar. I get the feeling that Honduran is so expensive because of CITES. Or...is there somewhere else I should be looking? I can't find quarter sawn mahogany locally, and I can't seem to find better prices anywhere else.

Obviously if I could sell a guitar and make a lot of money off of it, then it would be a no-brainer if they wanted something specific. But...for trying to perfect techniques and make guitars with a reasonable cost of materials...? I guess the real question is...will there be a difference that discourages me? As always....thanks!

V/R

Ken

I am not very qualifies but I think it would be a great choice at half the price.

honduran is much better Sipo is heavy and not as friendly to carve

Thanks! Is it worth twice the money for learning? Is there another alternative? And...what do we use when Honduran is no longer available?

if you are just learning Poplar makes for a good neck you can paint or stain it dark but it is cheap affordable and available .
When your learning you have so much to discover. There are many ways to do things, and with You TUbe there are lots of videos. Many are great some are terrible but you can see them doing it.

How about Spanish Cedar, which is really much closer to mahogany than cedar. I have no experience with it other than hearing that it carves very well. I CAN tell you that Osage Orange doesn't carve at all, that Ash if pretty nice, and that maple (non-figured) is great.

Ed

I built up a kit guitar that has a sipo neck. It took a finish wonderfully. I'm comfortable with the idea that it may not be optimum, but it's plenty good to use in a learning project. None of our early efforts will be the instruments that cause audiences to faint, overcome by the beauty of the sound. But a well-executed and neatly done project is a beautiful thing and an object of builder's pride. If op's feeling experimental, or has lots of time to spend, he can buy two sipo necks and build each with a different fingerboard, inlay, width, headstock decoration, headstock shape, the list is endless and we needn't do our learning on the most expensive woods. Learn a whole lot without a lot of cash spent.

I found this "family tree" (pun intented) of the mahogany species. Spanish cedar, sipo, and sapele all fall in the same area. Stewmac has sipo blanks that can produce 2 solid necks for around $60. I think $30 a neck is a good start for not having to execute a scarf joint since I don't have a planer.

Phil...did you carve the sipo? Or was it already carved since it was a kit? I appreciate all the replies.

V/R
Ken