Official Luthiers Forum!

How does soft maple fair for neck stock? I can get highly figured curly soft maple all day long for cheap and was wondering if is advisable to use. Would carbon fiber reinforcement make it more feasible?
Jason

Godin uses it for all their electric necks ("Silver Maple"). Are you talking of SS or Classical? I think that for an acoustic, it would be ok with the truss rod.

Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Soft ( i.e. red, big leaf, European) maple is only soft compared to hard maple (i.e. sugar), it is still quite hard compared to many other woods commonly used for necks. Curly maple is often more unstable than straight, so the longer the neck, expect more movement. It usually works fine for short necks, like in violin and mandolin family instruments, for guitars (especially electrics or basses) it gets more risky. Laminating and adding CF reinforcement is a good idea...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Soft, curly maple is also a little wonky sometimes. I had one neck take on a twist after being strung up. Carbon fiber would have likely prevented or at least lessened the problem.

I'm doing archtops with three piece laminated necks. So I may Try one and see what happens (I'll probably use Dave Stewarts bolt-on method.)
Jason

If it's well aged and stored it's fine.
Got some curly you want to sell or trade?
Mike

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Mike Collins

It works fine for laminated archtop necks Jason. That doesn't mean you don't start with dry, straight grain and minimal runout as with any wood.