Neck wood?

[Ritchie200]

OK, I am heading into unknown territory for me so I will be asking some very noobie questions....  Please bear with me!

I have a big hunk of lucite that I will be turning into a Dan Armstrong/type guitar.  I want to do the neck from scratch.  Besides maple, are there any other woods I should be looking at?  What about truss rod placement?  Do I need to buy some books, or can I stumble through it with maybe some kind help from you guys here and on the internet?  The most I have ever done to a neck is replace a fretboard (due to an over-zelous scallop job) and saw and set new frets.  Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Jim

[G._Hoffman]

Do I need to buy some books,

You kind of answered your own question (stumble through?), but YES, you need to buy some books.  There are any number out there that will help, but information which has gone through an editorial process is always to be preferred.

As for neck woods, you (ideally) want something which had a very regular grain, is well quartersawn, and is very stable.  Maple and mahogany are most popular, but mahogany is getting to be in very short supply.  African mahogany (not actually a mahogany, also known as Sapele) is popular these days.  Spanish cedar is seeing a comeback.  But to be honest, for that guitar I'd want to use maple.  Unfortunately.  (The stuff can be a real pain to work with!) 

My strong preference for truss rods is the Gibson-style single rod.  Basic engineering will tell you that the simpler something is, the more reliable it is, and the Gibson-style truss rod is the simplest thing that does the job.  If you pre-tension it before you glue on your fingerboard (you have to true up the neck after you tighten the rod), you can still have a "double acting" truss rod.  See our website (in my sig line.  There is an extensive section on how my dad makes his guitars, including his necks).

If you are using a rosewood fingerboard and have any moral sense what so ever, don't use Madagascar rosewood - their current "government" (they had a coup a few years back) is doing truly evil things to the forests down there right now.  Not that you are likely to find any of it any where, since it is very strongly embargoed, but just saying.


Oh yeah, and buy yourself a VERY WIDE, well padded strap.  That thing is going to be heavy as hell.


Gabriel

[Ritchie200]

WOW GABE!  For some reason I thought you and your dad built guitars as a hobby.  This is the first time I went to your website.  Holy crap, Leo Kottke?  I believe that says it all!!!  Some truly beautiful works of art from your dad and you.  The step-by-step pics of how you guys do your thing is great!

The fingerboard will be ebony.  I really like the idea of the pre-tension.  I have enough metal working equipment and skills to build my own truss rod.  I'm trying to figure out how how I can rout the truss slot on a big radius....I'll figure something out!  This will be my first attempt at inlay also.  I'll do lots of practice before I ruin hours of work....

I do have story (try to stay awake...) about the Dan Armstrong.  Way back in '72-'73 (I think?) I was in a local music store staring at a Dan Armstrong hanging on the wall.  The owner asked me if I wanted to play it - a brave thing to do since I was about 15.  He told me that they were not going to make them anymore and would be worth a lot of money some day (yeah right...).  He had all the pickups and I tried all of them.  I thought it was the best guitar I have ever played and yes, I do remember how heavy it was!  Then he told me I could take it home for $250.00.  Well, I road my bike home as fast as I could to beg and plead to my dad to float me a loan - aint gonna happen!  I had just blown a ton of money on my new Marshall Major and he told me to keep workin' if I wanted it that bad - wise words indeed, although I didn't understand it then...  It was gone the next week.  But wow, it was a great, great guitar.  I had previously owned an LP jr, SG, Aria LP, and was currently playing a Strat - so I had a good reference.  Great action, great neck radius, and sustain for days.  It did have some slight intonation issues with that slant bridge.  I always thought that I would buy one some day, and I know they have re-issued it - but I wanna build one!

I need to accumulate a lot of stuff before I start.  When I do I will post pics so you can make fun of me!

Thanks again!
Jim

[G._Hoffman]

WOW GABE!  For some reason I thought you and your dad built guitars as a hobby.  

I wish.  Then I wouldn't have to worry about the money part!

The fingerboard will be ebony.  I really like the idea of the pre-tension.  I have enough metal working equipment and skills to build my own truss rod.  I'm trying to figure out how how I can rout the truss slot on a big radius....

That's the tricky part, to be sure.  Our shaper jig is the best thing I've found.  Router jigs that ride on curved rails are problematic, because the bit has to be so far from the bearings that it can't rout a clean channel.  Short of a shaper, the only things I've seen people do that really works is to either rout a stepped channel, and then chisel in the arch; or to rout a flat bottomed channel, and inlay a curved strip into the bottom of the channel.


Gabriel