neck grain

[Andrew Jerman]

I have a large figured maple board that I'd like to use for a neck on a solid body guitar. It will be a bolt on neck. I've always used quartersawn material for my necks, but in order to get a good yield I would need to orientate the grain on the slab. I really wanted to avoid using wings. I normally build shorter scale instruments and wasn't sure what to expect on a longer scale. Would I benefit from using carbon fiber as stiffeners? If so, do you use those in conjunction with a truss rod too? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Greg Robinson]

Hi Andrew,
Millions of Fenders have been made with slab sawn maple, you'll be fine.
Remember, it's not stiffness that varies greatly between flat and quarter sawn, it's dimensional stability, that's why quartersawn is preferred in most situations. It seems that somewhere along the line this got confused, and now it seems everybody thinks in incorrect terms.

I like carbon fiber reinforced necks, but I would not make one without a truss rod (I prefer the two-way ones made by Allied Lutherie - best truss rod on the market).

Good luck with your project.