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I have made many pine and fir necks, and the actions have not ever raised, nor have the necks been subject to undue wear over the course of 7 years of vigorous regular play. They all have been made using very dry, tightly grained, quartersawn wood, have all had a scarf joint construction, and have had a reinforcing bar inside (graphite). I think pine or fir is a great choice for CBG's, because its lightness keeps the instrument in balance. The fingerboard is the part of the neck that needs to be hard, but the back of the neck sees no fingernails, picks, or slides and so is not really subject to much abuse.
Many airplanes have had pine or spruce spars in their wings. The Boessendorfer (sp?) piano has a spruce rim. I really like it and think the instruments made from it have a unique sound to them.
If you are making an instrument to hand down to your grandkids, maybe they will see some warping when they are your age. And if they do, its probably more the fault of the neck joint shifting or the box collapsing. Other than that, choose a nice dry specimen with vertical straight grain and you are ready to go!
I have replied to this question every couple years on various guitar forums in this manner and it falls on deaf ears. Oh well.
Kurt
Okay, Pine is a sort of specialty for me so I will add my 2 cents if you don't mind...Pine is a very unique specie of wood. Yellow pine with no heart is soft and not a great choice. However, heart pine is about 25% harder and antique heart pine is about 50% harder. My company manufactures flooring in both Yellow Pine, Heart Pine and Antique Heart Pine flooring. I will tell you, vertical grain antique heart pine is twice as stable as oak or maple and just as hard if not harder. As the wood ages, the resins in the heart wood crystallize and get harder and harder. Find yourself a nice piece of old, vertical grain heart pine and you will not be disappointed in the results. I promise you.
I've been thinking about what I could do with a couple slabs of fir I have out in the shed; wondering if I could use a slab to make a guitar in one piece. They are very rough cuts through the center of the tree, about an inch thick, gotten from a trapper's cabin way out in the bush by Carbondale Creek in the West Castle area of Alberta. My family has been in the area for over 100 years, and my uncles tell me the cabin was there when they were kids, so I'm thinking it's possible the wood dates from about that era.
Okay, Pine is a sort of specialty for me so I will add my 2 cents if you don't mind...Pine is a very unique specie of wood. Yellow pine with no heart is soft and not a great choice. However, heart pine is about 25% harder and antique heart pine is about 50% harder. My company manufactures flooring in both Yellow Pine, Heart Pine and Antique Heart Pine flooring. I will tell you, vertical grain antique heart pine is twice as stable as oak or maple and just as hard if not harder. As the wood ages, the resins in the heart wood crystallize and get harder and harder. Find yourself a nice piece of old, vertical grain heart pine and you will not be disappointed in the results. I promise you.
If you are willing to laminate the neck you could turning the wood so that is ends up being 1/4 sawn (if that makes sense) and epoxy some steel reinforcement. I have used 1/2"-1/8''x 15 1/2" that I bought at home depot... Of course you will have to glue on a fingerboard.... Could look great... Just an option- Jim
Lewis Lee said:
I've been thinking about what I could do with a couple slabs of fir I have out in the shed; wondering if I could use a slab to make a guitar in one piece. They are very rough cuts through the center of the tree, about an inch thick, gotten from a trapper's cabin way out in the bush by Carbondale Creek in the West Castle area of Alberta. My family has been in the area for over 100 years, and my uncles tell me the cabin was there when they were kids, so I'm thinking it's possible the wood dates from about that era.
Tam
I have useed stair spindles from B&Q and Wickes . They do square ones in Oak. Also Wickes do one in Hemlock. It is still a softwood but I have used it with no problem so far. You could also try a local timber merchant. They will cut you some oak or mahogany.
Prof
Tam Givens said:
Thank's for the answers Guys.
I live in Scotland and our main DIY store is B&Q pine is about all I can get there.
I will have to visit a sawmill to get some oak. I have been using oak from a coffee table that my son ruined with cigarete.
Tam
I made a few Diddleybows with pine necks last week, they sound great and are holding together well so far-keep in mind however that:
1) Each Diddly has only two strings(tuned to a fifth) of light gauge, and
2) The pine in question for the neck is cut from Seventy year-old Fire-cured tobacco hanger sticks, a legacy from my Grandfather's barn(and now my workshop for the larger projects).
I'll be stringing up my first pine neck (tomorrow?) I imbedded a 1/8X1/2 steel bar in it so technically it's not all pine.
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