hi all!
what wood would you use for a 6 string neck so it would be strong enough to avoide installing struss rod?
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Maple with a oak strip down the middle, use light strings.
Cheers Ron
Tal,
C.F. Martin guitars have used I think a 1/2 inch square steel tubing for a non adjustable truss rod for years. This I feel would be an easy thing to install, and should give you years of good service. I have built guitar necks with this as well.
Also Harmony, Dobro, Regal, Stella guitars have used a 1/8 x 1/2 inch non adjustable steel bar.
I don't think a 6 string neck without a steel rod would last a long time, but I have been wrong before.
Hope this helps
Bob:)
i'd use whatever i got for free, just so long as its strong hardwood, and i'd definitely laminate it. At least 3 pieces, plus a fingerboard.
And id carve it nice and chunky, 50s style..
plenty of guitars have been made with no rod, dont believe the hype!
also, btw.. a truss rod does not add strength, it actually diminishes it by virtue of the wood it requires you to remove. What it gives you back is adjustment.. so you can crank some relief back in when the tension bends it.
Very tough question and most guitar manufacturers have asked the very same thing. Most six string guitars ever built have some kind of truss rod because wood bends under the string pressure. Martin used mahogany necks (mahogany is a very stable wood) with a t-bar truss rod in the early days and later on they used a square hollow bar. The t-bar was stiffer and is regarded as better than the square hollow bar used later on. Gibson and Fender have used the traditional truss rod which has proven to be extremely reliable and it sounds good too.
If I had to make a neck without a truss rod I would use quarter sawn seasoned wood and use a laminate of different woods together. I would also make the neck thick and fat because that would make it stronger.
This is wrong. A steel or aluminum rod, square or whatever, is stronger then wood. Yes you remove wood, but the rod adds more strength than what the removed wood had. Yes the strength sometimes comes through tension, but it is still strength.
I do agree that if you did it w/out a truss rod, it should be big and chunky.
But, IMHO, I wouldn't do a six-er w/out a truss rod.
AFKAM
Jef Long said:
And id carve it nice and chunky, 50s style..
plenty of guitars have been made with no rod, dont believe the hype!
also, btw.. a truss rod does not add strength, it actually diminishes it by virtue of the wood it requires you to remove. What it gives you back is adjustment.. so you can crank some relief back in when the tension bends it.
I made a six string with a red oak neck and fingerboard about 4 years ago and have not had any problems with bowing yet.
It is a chunkier style neck..
The concept of installing a fixed steel bar in a neck is quite different to installing an adjustable trussrod. The trussrod adds adjustability, not strength. Depending on how deep the trussrod is installed below the fretboard, it tends to be on the compression side of the neck, or roughly along the neutral axis (the centre of the depth) of the neck. It's not there to add any strength, but to be able to counteract the tendancy of the strings to bend the neck, or in the case of a double-acting rod, it can also counter back-bow due to movement of the timber itself. The closer the trussrod is buried in the centre of the neck (ie the neutral axis) the less contribution it has to adding overall stiffness to the neck.
A fixed, glued-in reinforcement such as a steel or carbon fibre bar, by creating what is in effect a composite structure can result in a stiffer neck, the downside is there's no adjustability to be able to tweek the relief in the neck. Laminating the neck with a really stiff centre section of timber can also help, By keeping the neck pretty deep (structurally you are increasing the sectional modulus by going for a deeper neck), and the old-timey "vee" necks are an example of this.
This is wrong. A steel or aluminum rod, square or whatever, is stronger then wood. Yes you remove wood, but the rod adds more strength than what the removed wood had. Yes the strength sometimes comes through tension, but it is still strength.
I do agree that if you did it w/out a truss rod, it should be big and chunky.
But, IMHO, I wouldn't do a six-er w/out a truss rod.
AFKAM
Jef Long said:
And id carve it nice and chunky, 50s style..
plenty of guitars have been made with no rod, dont believe the hype!
also, btw.. a truss rod does not add strength, it actually diminishes it by virtue of the wood it requires you to remove. What it gives you back is adjustment.. so you can crank some relief back in when the tension bends it.
Excellent discussion, many good points have been made so I won't repeat except to say upright basses have no metal in the necks, however they are quite thick. The preferred wood of choice has been maple, and rock maple over other types. So I think one could safely build a neck from any hardwood and not have problems. The orginal Klein electric guitars used a solid rosewood neck, also thick. That aside, I have small hands and prefer some relief in my necks, so it's adjustable for me.
Don
"also, btw.. a truss rod does not add strength, it actually diminishes it by virtue of the wood it requires you to remove. What it gives you back is adjustment.. so you can crank some relief back in when the tension bends it."
I am in this camp, truss rod does not add strength.
It will also weaken the point where the neck meets the peg head, and if the guitar gets dropped and lands on the peg head, which it easily does as it is angled back, this weak point, right where the nut goes, will break easier than without a truss rod.
Cheers Ron.
"also, btw.. a truss rod does not add strength, it actually diminishes it by virtue of the wood it requires you to remove. What it gives you back is adjustment.. so you can crank some relief back in when the tension bends it."
I am in this camp, truss rod does not add strength.
It will also weaken the point where the neck meets the peg head, and if the guitar gets dropped and lands on the peg head, which it easily does as it is angled back, this weak point, right where the nut goes, will break easier than without a truss rod.
Cheers Ron.
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