Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello friends
im not able to get spanish cedar for classical guitar necks and also there are many restriction on getting it now
last week i visited timber market and saw nice quartered burma teak block..
it was nearly similar in grain pattern of spanish cedar.
so can i use burma teak for neck of classical guitars?
will it be heavy for classical guitars? if heavy then can i use for acoustic guitar necks?
also can i use it for backs bracings
waiting for ur replies

Umm Rahoul,

There are NO hard and fast rules re: what woods to use.

So use what ever wood you want to use.


blessings
?adma

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Rahoul: I think teak would be a bit on the heavy side, especially for a classic..!!!
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Teak is heavy and hard to work compared to mahogany and Spanish cedar. But you can use it if you want.

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can we use for acoustic or bass necks?

I had a nice piece of teak that I was thinking of using as binding and asked a similar question just a few days ago. The replies I got were similar. However I am not sure if it was just the wood I had or not but I cut a strip off just to see how it would work and I found it to have very deep grain similar to mahogany but it didn't seem to have the strength. As soon as I tried to bend it all it would do is split and splinter. I opted not to even try to use it. I know that teak seems to have a lot of variety in grain and pattern so yours may be very different that what I had but that was my experience with it. You may want to try and shape it and see how it feels and how it finishes. I sanded and put some finish on what I had and it was quite grain heavy (Lots of filler needed) and it also had sort of a gray cast to it which didn't compliment my EIR sides and back, although before finishing it looked really nice next to it.

Yours may be completely different.

Cheers,
Bob

can´t you find deodar there? i have a bit of lebanon cedar (closely related species) and it seems it might work, at least for a classical guitar neck. it´s a softwood, but density seems to be on par with the average spanish cedar (0.5 g/cm3)

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Personally, I would not use teak for anything on a musical instrument. It is difficult to work, and even harder to glue and finish.
Spanish cedar is favored for classical necks because of the stability and light weight. A heavy wood will cause the guitar to be neck-heavy, which is paricularly noticeable when sitting down with the guitar balanced on your lap.
I am not familiar with what woods are available in India, but if you do some research on wood density, I am sure you can find a suitable replacement for Spanish cedar. There are several native hardwoods here in the US that are in that density range.

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John

The replies have centered around the weight of Teak. What about the sound? I am considering a nice piece of Osage Orange for a neck on an OO bodied small guitar - what might its (and other wood's) density and surface hardness bring to the table?

thanks

In the past some classical guitars were built with rosewood necks. This was advocated by Arthur Overholtzer, but wasn't widely done, and probably for good reason (weight - neck heavy)

A heavy, stiff neck will tend to produce a little more sustain, but IMHO the slight difference is not worth the weight penalty.
Unless you have actually played a neck-heavy acoustic guitar, you may not realize how big of an issue it can be. IMHO, it can affect the playability as much as poor setup of the action.

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John

Thanks John - something to consider. The guitar I am making will have a 23-12" scale with 13 frets clear on a parlor size body, so it may actually be relatively more imbalanced than a larger guitar.

Ed Minch