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Quarter vs flatsawn again
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=31979		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Stephen Lind [ Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Quarter vs flatsawn again
I know that this has been beaten to death here but I just have to ask...

A good friend has obtained a 12'x2"x6" Honduras mahogany beam from a house built in the '20s.
He's cut it into 12 30x3x7/8 blanks plus a 4'x6"x2" board.
The beam is obviously flatsawn

should I use it for necks or not
Author:  runamuck [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
You can turn a flat-sawn board on edge and it's quarter-sawn - perfect for a laminated neck.
Author:  nickton [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
thank you. :)
Author:  Andy Birko [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
The neck on my tele is obviously flatsawn. Use away either as is or as a lamination.
Author:  Mark Groza [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
Mahogany is one of the most stable woods and can be used either way.
Author:  jfmckenna [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
Oh man I would have loved to score a nice find like that!
Author:  John Arnold [ Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
Other than appearance, I have found no credible reason to prefer QS necks over flat sawn. Violins and Fenders are almost always flatsawn, in a wood (maple) that is less stable than many others.
And contrary to widely held opinions, QS wood is generally no stiffer than flatsawn.
Author:  Andy Birko [ Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
John Arnold wrote:
, QS wood is generally no stiffer than flatsawn.


In fact, depending on the species, flatsawn is stiffer. I can't find the link but there are some publications that show that at best, QS is equal to FS in stiffness in certain species but never stiffer. If I recall, it has to do with the difference in density of the early wood compared to the late wood. The closer they are, the more isotropic the material will be.

All that said, the difference in stiffness is very small and not really worth worrying about.
Author:  Stephen Lind [ Wed Apr 27, 2011 1:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
I'm building a guitar in a class that meets every 2 weeks.
Last night the instructor said not to use this wood unless I want a bumpy, twisted neck.

I'm very inclined to take someone like John Arnold's advice over the instructors but I'm thinking I don't want to go against the grain, as it were, with the instructor.

Having said that, I really want to use this wood.
Author:  mcgr40 [ Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
I would rather have wood that I really knew was old than that bought somewhere, and probably kiln-dried. Your old wood has been through so many expansion/contraction cycles that any internal stresses will have been relieved.
Use the old wood.
Author:  John Coloccia [ Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Quarter vs flatsawn again
Stephen Lind wrote:
I'm building a guitar in a class that meets every 2 weeks.
Last night the instructor said not to use this wood unless I want a bumpy, twisted neck.

I'm very inclined to take someone like John Arnold's advice over the instructors but I'm thinking I don't want to go against the grain, as it were, with the instructor.

Having said that, I really want to use this wood.


Use can use the instructor's wood, but shadow him and build a neck blank out of your friend's mahogany too. Put that neck blank aside for a year. Then you can come back and see for yourself. No reason to take anyone's word for it. If you want to get fancy, do the same with some rift sawn maple and see what you get. This is a cheap and easy experiment to run.
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