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If I can afford to I would like to choose Euro Maple as the material of the neck for my archtop build. The Length (counting neck extension) for the blank is 28.5. The Heel is 3.5 wide or deep. And the thickness is 2.25. Most of the blanks I see for sale do not always meet these numbers. At least one of the measurements always falls short. The heel for instance... I can never find a blank that is 3.5. Would it look bad if I graft it on from another piece on the same board? Since it has figure it might look awkward. Same thing goes for the neck extension. What should I be looking for measurement-wise when I buy a blank? Laminated necks like nice, but for this build I wanted to do a one piece.

Why "counting neck extension"...it has to be added later or you'll never cut the dovetail!

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Dave
Milton, ON

By thickness do you mean width (across the fretboard)? 2.25" is kind of tight if you want to cut your extension from the same blank. What are the nut and twelfth fret widths?

Laminating has all the advantages.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

You can get curly maple blanks (hard or soft maple) big enough for one piece archtop necks. Check with different suppliers.

Well if it has to be one piece (except the neck extension) look for a blank about 24 x 3.5 x 2.25 in size. Many times if your using a one piece neck, you might have to add a heel cap to get the extra depth. Your fretboard extention should really be a seperate step. Its the only good way to cut the dovetail joint. How deep is the body? Your neck will sit about 5/8" above the body.

Almost everyone does a laminated neck on archies. 3 pieces of flatsawn maple on its side will end up 2.25" quartersawn and will be very strong. If you buy a 1x4" maple board, you need less than 48" to to get three pieces. that is enough to make the blank.

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Joe

While we are on the subject of neck construction, do most makers make the layer up the neck and headstock out of continuous pieces, like Benedetto does in his book (so that the layers run from the neck into the headstock), or do you make the neck and then cut the scarf joint and glue on the headstock after, like Cumpiano does in his book? On my Greek instruments, I like to layer up some contrasting 1/8 laminations in the neck (on a maple neck, I put in two 1/8 inch thick strips of ebony separated by a 1/8 thick limination of maple), then I cut the scarf joint and glue on the headstock, because I don't want the ebony stripes to show at the top of the headstock (and also because I have read that the short grain where the headstock angles back makes for a weak transition). Just wondering what most makers do?

I would make a general statment that if you do a laminate neck, you do them one continual piece from the heel to tip of headstock. No scarf joints. Part of the reason is that this becomes a very stiff and durable neck. I find that the laminate necks need much less attention of the truss rod. It also is quite cost efficient because the readily available flatsawn wood turned on its side becomes quartersawn wood in a laminate neck. Therefore you don't have to look for costly large chunks of quartersawn wood.

Just my two cents.

Joe

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Joe

Also as a note, i have not found Laminate necks to be anywhere near as subseptable to headstock breaks. I have inspected hundreds and hundreds of old Gretsch guitars. All had laminate necks. Maple/ebony/Maple in most cases. I have only seen two or three headstock breaks out of a extremely large quanity. In most cases it was due to extreme neglect...(like tossing a guitar in the air and not catching it....Brian Setzer....)


In additiona to Gretsch, Gibson switch to a 3 piece neck in 1970 on most guitars. There was quite a reduction in headstock breaks with this switch. You still see them break, but they are not as common as the breaks in the one piece necks made in the 60's.

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Joe