Maple neck

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Hey Gang,
I will be making a scarf joint, stacked heel maple neck for my next guitar project. This is what the receiver of the guitar wants.
I have made them from Honduras Hog, African Hog, and Sapele, but never made a maple neck before.
Is there anything I should be aware of or looking out for in this process? I know it will be a bit heavier.
The Sapele necks I've made were a tad heavier too but were not a problem.
I have a Fender all maple acoustic (maple neck too) and the neck weight has not been noticable to me.
Thanks for chiming in!

Kevin

[darren]

Hey Kevin,
I did one for my maple size 2. I don't notice the weight but it is a 12 fret slothead, maybe that is why. It is significantly harder to cut/carve, but I am mostly handtools (so coping saw for the heel, backsaw for headstock shape, etc. - my forearms were achin'...) other than my routing fixture for the slots.

I completely bungled up a second maple neck I was working on last week. Also carving a hog neck right now and it is amazing how easy it is to work after the two maple necks. Both of them were straight grain, rock maple. I image if you are working fiddleback or birds eye it will be even worse. Good luck.

All the stacked heel maple necks I've seen have had very noticeable glue lines - even from some extremely competent builders. (mine does as well...) This may be an issue to bring up with your customer. The next one I do will be cut out of a laminated block to avoid this - though I haven't figured out how I will do the cutting by hand. :)

the best part - no porefilling, just give it a wash coat of zpoxy to seal and accentuate the grain. That will help your finish build as well.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Thanks Darren, that is helpful. I was figuring the maple to be more challenging to carve for sure.
I was also wondering about the stacked heel glue lines. I wonder if one glue type might be better for this than another, or if it just getting the tightest joints you can.
The mahogany because of the cross grain structure takes to this laminating very well and hiding the joints.
My neck blank is straight grained, no figure to speak of, but it is quartered. I thought I would perhaps make the neck first and if I don't like it, just tell the receiver that he is going to get a hog neck. :>)
I like the idea of no porefilling for sure! I am considering using TruOil for this neck. The body will be nitro once again.

Kevin

[Dan Bombliss]

Hey Kevin,

I've carved some maple necks. For me they weren't hard enough to notice enough of a difference to really be noteable in my brain. What I will say though, and really the same goes for figured (ribbon or flamed) Mahogany, but a bit more so for maple: The curly maple has a tendency to tear out if you use a blade on it. I.E Spoke shave.

I generally shape with spoke shave, and a very nice rasp. My rasp ran me about 100 bucks, and it's a long shot from the harbor freight ones for 5 bucks. Cuts like no bodies business.

Anyhow, shaping a maple neck with these tools, I'd be a little less bold with the spoke shave, because a good chunk of figure could ruin your day. Other than that, wood is wood, no? :P

-Dan

[tippie53]

I have used maple on a few guitars. It does the job. It may be a bit heavier than mahogany but it has that figure to help add a touch of figure.

[Darryl Young]

Kevin, on hiding the glue line I'm wondering if you could use polyurethane glue (like Gorilla glue.....though I've heard there are much better brands that don't foam as bad as Gorilla). It is a permanent glue but that's not a bad thing for glueing up the neck heel. You could test the color on a test sample glue-up.

I've not tried this so please test on scrap......but that would be my first thought if I were trying it short of having feedback from folks who have already been down this path.

Edit: BTW, on a stacked heel are you gluing end grain to side grain on the neck then end grain to end grain on the next layer? I've not paid attention to how the wood grain is oriented in the stack so I'm curious.

[Dan Bombliss]

Try LMI glue for hiding the glue lines. I've been using this on the past few guitars, and it drys clear. I would think that would compliment maple better than tightbond's gross yellow look.

-Dan

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Hey Dan,
I know I should invest in a really good rasp or two. I use my cheese grater for most of my carving on mahogany. I didn't figure it would work well on the maple. There may be a new rasp in my near future.
I've always used LMI's white glue on the other necks I've built.

Darryl, I used a gorrila glue on a coco bridge to glue it down that was not the original glue. I can't remember what they call it, but it was a very low foaming, clear drying glue. Would that be what you are talking about? Do you think the glue line would be less likely to show then with a Tite Bond or LMI white glue. I certainly could and should get some maple and do some tests.
What worries me the most about this build is how the stacked heel might look. No worries about the scarfed headstock joint.


Kevin

[Dan Bombliss]

You know what, I actually just had a realization, that back in school I had done a "mock up" maple scarf joint. The joint looked fine, with tightbond even, but it was the dirt you had to worry about.

Any kind of a gap looked really black, or like a dirty seam. And of course, and kind of dirty looked like a dirty seam.

I think you'll be fine with which ever glue you decide to use. I'm becoming partial to LMI, especially because it's clear.

-Dan