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I'm thinking about possibly using maple for the neck on one of my upcoming guitars for the fist time. How does maple carve? Of course it will be curly figure maple. Are there big differences in the way big leaf or European maple would work? Also, if I got one of those big 30"x4"x3" chunks of maple from LMI would I be able to have a full size neck heel on it? I use a mortise & tenon style neck joint so I need a good 3"x3"x4" neck heel block. Just wondering if I'll have to go the laminated/stacked neck method or if I could cut the whole neck out of one of those big chunks? Actually I'd need to be able to cut two necks out of one of those big chunks to keep from wasting valuable wood.

In general... carving highly figured woods with blades will try your patience... Especially when said curly grain wood has a very beautiful and regular tight curl pattern... Just when everything seems to be going fine..... you will yank out a giant chunk in an important and visible place.

You may consider looking into some high quality Cabinet maker's rasps like Airou's (Still being made by Airou made under a different name.)

Also consider making yourself a good sanding board... It is just as it sounds -- a 4" wide good flat board covered on 1 side with sticky back sand paper.. They work great for faring the curves on a neck shaft..

Soft straight grained maple carves nicely enough -- kinda like Cherry. Hard maple is another story all together... They call it "Hard Maple" for a reason....

Good luck

John

I carved about 15 necks from hard maple (birds eye) and about the same number from curly Big Leaf Western maple. The soft Big Leaf was easier than hard maple, but not by a lot. I used Microplanes to carve these which work very fast and have no tendency to tearing out grain. One thing that came in real handy on the hard maple was a Grizzly inflatable rolling pin sander. It made quick work of the heel and headstock transition areas. Sanding the heel by hand is a very long process. Another tool which came in handy was an orbital sander modified with a long platen to sand the neck shaft in the shoe-shine fashion shown in Benedetto's book.

I rough in all my necks with the 4.5 inch cutzall carving wheel on an angle grinder .. makes short work of any wood. another great file I have is one that is supposed to be used for cleaning horse hooves prior to re-shoeing ... its really rough rasp on one side, that takes no pressure at all to rip thru curly maple. The other side is more tight grooved file, and it smoothes out the rough marks left by the rasp side. Its huge as well, good for keeping things flat.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

The one I am working on now has Big Leaf Western maple neck, which wasn't too difficult to carve. I used a Microplane, chisels, and sandpaper.

I rough them out with a little Makita 1" belt sander and a 36 grit belt. I've got one of the horse hoof things Tony mentioned too. I've only done 2 Maple necks, (both Big leaf) but they weren't alot different than Mahogany. As long as the grain is right in the blank I have no problems getting 2 necks from a 3"X4"X24" section. This leaves 3"X4"X6" to get the neck blocks out of. Mark carefully before you cut, and look at the direction of the grain closely. I have a tendency to screw up stuff like that sometimes.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Same deal here, pre-CNC. I used a spokeshave to rip off the majority of the material (very rough!), then the microplane rasp, and then a sanding wheel on a die grinder followed by sanding to final profile. I've also done one entirely on the belt sander, minus a little finish sanding.

You'll be fine so long as you avoid using any bladed or scraping tool anywhere near the final profile. Even scrapers tend to 'divot' the surface.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

That's a great tool for carving necks, figured or otherwise.

That's my favorite neck wood. I use Micro planes, curved scrapers, and sandpaper.

Carving any maple is much easier than all mahogany's, indian rose wood necks are the very hardest to carve using all tools. I use a bandsaw to ruff cut a neck almost to a completely ready, then a small 5 by 36" belt sander using 80 grit. Then I use a Japanese type rasp that looks like it is made with metal saw blades although it is not. Mike Doolin gave me the idea to use a bandsaw so much more, thank you Mike!
I don't touch spoke shaves or chisels at all but do have them.

I've got a great big draw knife that's several generations old. I cut all the way through a Mahogany neck with it.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

After bandsaw rough blank cut start to finish with a pneumatic ROS and a hand held Grizzly pneumatic detail sanding drum. 80 grit, 120 grit, 150 grit then 220 grit.

I know Sugar maple (or rock maple) is considered hard maple. Are Big Leaf or European maple considered hard maple or soft maple?

I know silver maple is soft maple. How about Red Maple, is it considered hard or soft?

And while we are on the subject, how does Red Maple perform for a guitar neck? I've seen it used on a mandolin before but not on a guitar.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

All Maple is considered hardwood.Some are harder than others.Sugar is very hard compared to the rest.Figured maple in all kinds seems to run harder than straight grained as well.Red Maple makes nice necks too.

Thanks for all the tips here guys!
So is that inflatable handheld drum sander from Grizzly a good useful tool. I always thought it looked good. Maybe it's time to consider buying one?

Usfull on lots of things. I have both dia. and use both regularly

since I build predominately electric guitars, they all have maple necks. I rough cut on the bandsaw, use a good cabinet makers rasp for the next phase of shaping (heel and other areas) , then use a good cabinet scraper with a good burr set on it for final shaping until time for sandpaper.

Just my way of doing it. Also a good scotch while scraping little curls of wood helps

Mike

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I'm outside looking in, just farther from the window than most.