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Hey all, I'm starting a build that's a commission for a friend who's an upright bass player, but also plays guitar. It's a baritone six string, and I was considering using curly maple for the neck, since I have a ton, and I thought it might have a familiar feel to it. Any thoughts on advantages/disadvantages? My mentor, James Condino, is very much a fan of mahogany necks on guitars, though he plays a lot more upright and mando, which, of course have maple necks. Not sure what to make of that...

TIA

Ken

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Disadvantages? A bit heavier than mahogany.
Advantages? Stiffer, and in my opinion yielding better sustain and volume.
Also more beautiful, and--not to be discounted--you have a ton of it.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Disadvantages - harder to carve than mahogany, but you have to weigh that against the other advantages Steve mentioned.

I'm hand carving a quilted maple neck right now and I don't plan to do that again for a long time. But it will sure look cool when it is done.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
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I think the curly maple will make a great neck, with good Mahogany getting harder to find and expensive I am sure we will see a lot more non Mahogany necks.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Less stability than mahogany.
But I wouldn't worry about it though If I had a good piece of straight grained, well aged maple.
I built an acoustic guitar with a rock maple necks that joined at the 12th fret. No problems.

Actually - I would worry about it with a baritone guitar. A regular 6 string would be fine in my opinion. But with all the tension of a baritone, I think I'd want something slightly more stable.

concerning this post could somebody elaborate grain orientation in maple case because several time I read that maple is stronger when it's flat sawn

fric

On a baritone a maple neck might feel a little unbalanced because of the longer scale length.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I like both.But if you have more maple to work with, i don't think i'd go with mahogany unless that's what the client wants. I build more necks with maple as that's what i have a ton of and i like the look of curly maple much better. it is harder to carve, but it has an advantage of not needing porefilling.

Millions upon millions of maple neck guitars out there. More maple than mahogany, I'd wager.

I don't know about baritone guitars, but I'm thinking of the maple neck on my own archtop, as well as all the maple necks on 7-string jazz guitars, mandos, upright basses, banjos, and on and on. I wouldn't worry about stability and if you've got a ton of it then you're already familiar with cutting, shaving, sanding it, etc. I wouldn't hesitate to use it as long as the maple figure will pair well with your choice of body woods. Man...I wish I had a ton of it to work with.
Patrick

I'd say go for it ... and yes, flatsawn maple is about the same stiffness as quartered .. its just not as stable, ie it will move more with temp/rh changes.

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

If the maple is well seasoned and hasn't shown any tendency to twist or move, it'll be a fine and stable neck. Flat sawn is great, too, and will show its best figure on the side of the neck instead of the back of it, so it'll be even prettier(if it has any figure, that is).

Millions of Telecasters and their countless clones can't all be wrong.....

Agree with using a good rasp for carving, as well as a scraper! A well sharpened scraper can make quick and effortless work of the final shaping.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Here's a few of my stash:

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Hey that's right...ash makes a good neck too.

JJ

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Though usually just the users. I'm pretty sure I could take her in a cage match.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

They look very nice but are extremely top heavy on an acoustic. I own one and it's okay if you don't mind the headstock scrapping on the ground. Now that is an bit of exaggeration but not to much...Mike

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Another day, another dollar.