Pine as Neck Wood

[Bobtastic]

Hi all,

I've been itching to start a new build... I'm thinking about a SG. While I am deciding what to do and to keep my hand in I decided to turn a chuck of Pine that was holding up my old breakfast bar into a couple of neck.

I know Pine isn't the best wood for a guitar neck but the grain looks pretty straight. What do u think?

 

[Frogfur]

No..

 

[JohanHaellgren]

Atleast try!

 

[Baylin]

Maybe with some carbon fibre rods to add some rigidity???

 

[Freddy G]

It's been done. If I were to attempt it I would try to use a quartersawn piece. And/or install carbon fibre rods. I'd also likely make it big. Like a big 50s neck. The more mass, the more stability.
I would also prefer to do it in a build where the neck shaft is shorter....as in a Les Paul as opposed to an SG or a double cut design. An SG length neck shaft is going to be more flexible.

 

[jeff.longino]

Pine is such an open ended variety also. There is pine that I would not go near for a neck and there it other which I've have looked at and thought it might well work.

Like the light airy sugar pine that is so great for a tele body I'd not go near for a neck. But a really tight grain yellow pine or reclaimed antique heart pine (which is really an all but extinct long leaf pine)...I've seen some I would consider. I actually have a couple sitting on a shelf that *might* get attempted at some point.

But I've not done it so take all that with a grain of salt.

 

[emoney]

The only way I'd try Pine for a neck would be a laminate, and probably even then I'd put
something "darkish" in the middle, or at least a strip of oak. Nothing wrong with using
what you have, but a soft wood like Pine probably doesn't have the best future in mind.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about "using what you've got".

 

[Freddy G]

Like I said....it's been done. But as suggested, old growth, dense and tight pine would be ideal.

Mr. Hot Rod Lincoln!

Love that tune BTW!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Rfv0dQttM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Rfv0dQttM[/ame]

 

[Ripthorn]

I did a pine neck through guitar once, out of a plain old white pine 2x4 from home depot. The whole guitar was pine. I carved trapezoidal, with a 3/8" thick pine fretboard, total thickness between 1.125 and 1.25". I strung it with 8's, but it never moved once in that abominable upstate NY climate I lived in. I think a lot of people reject it out of hand. I've tried it, it worked fine. The whole guitar was pine, but nobody would have known after the paint job. It sounded just like a regular old electric guitar, with no glaring strengths or weaknesses. The worst that can happen is that you scrap it.

 

[moreles]

You're looking for trouble, but trouble can be fun. Pine's characteristics are not conducive to making a stable neck. It's possible to have it work out, particularly of you do as some have suggested and use significant fiber and maybe a thicker, stiff fingerboard. Of course, that makes the whole enterprise not really "piney" after all. I don't think I would invest my effort and care in a contrarian project like this unless I had some strange attachment to the specific piece of wood, wanted a cosmetic (not structural) result, or just wanted to see if it's possible. There are myriad reasons why you don't see pine necks in a craft that regularly uses spruce, extensively -- for other parts.

 

[Barnaby]

I've got some quartersawn reclaimed heart pine blanks that will be used for one-piece bolt-on necks at some point in a group of all-pine telecasters I'm making - so no chance to add reinforcement, even though I wish I could. It's really nice, stable wood that is so unlike other pines that it's probably unfair to use it as 'proof' that an all-pine neck is fine, but I will say that I've seen several guitars with necks made from white or sugar pine. Some were straight after time and some were definitely not. Without being sure of what caused the problems, my guess is that Freddy is spot on (what a surprise...) about quartersawn and reinforced necks being the way to go.

I think pine has gotten a really bad rap as a wood for lutherie in the past, but it's been starting to turn around in the last decade (perhaps even more recently). I can also say that the guitar and bass bodies I've made from Japanese pine (matsu) have become really nice instruments. I'm really looking forward to playing the heart pine necks.

 

[jeff.longino]

I tend to think that all things being equal there is a reason you do not really see pine used. That said I work with it in various other projects and am often amazed at how well it sounds when a nice stick of it is tapped....it can be really resonant. Makes it hard to not consider using it.

Sounds like Barnaby has some twin pieces hidden back to what I have. Mine are close to quartersawn. Not quite a perfect 90 degree grain, but still nice.

If I ever do try these, Id likely resaw and flip the grain and glue up a 2 or 3 piece.

 

[Barnaby]

Damn - those look sweet! Also yes, very similar in appearance.

 

[timfred]

I would not hesitate using clear, straight and tight-grained quartersawn Douglas Fir for a neck except for the fact that it would ding easily. Parker used redwood for necks for a time.

 

[scottatgc]

Pine is way to soft of a wood, and gets really brittle when it is dried. You need to use a tight-grained Hardwood. It may work for year or two, but it will ultimately fail.

 

[ajory72]

I'm thinking go for it - would be good to get an update after a few years too

I'm looking at pulling a neck of a Chinese LP I picked up and using it on a pine flying V body i'm going to put together....but that will be another post.

 

[mux164]

My 2nd build had a pine neck. It had a merbau centre strip though. Was thinking about doing a douglas fir neck

 

[LtDave32]

Like Freddy said, it's been done. And again said, quarter sawn would be the way to go. Soft stuff tho.. Maybe pine with a katalox (Mexican ebony, and quite affordable, but hard stuff) fret board? I'd go a two-way rod in that thing too. That way, you might be able to correct if gone awry.

 

[Marty M.]

My latest guitar for the TDPRI challenge has a pine neck and body. The pine was from Lowes home center that I had here for a few years. The grain is quartersawn. At the moment it is easily one of the nicer necks around here. The rod is an import 2way rod. The fretboard is Indian Rosewood. I've never had to adjust the action yet. While it may not last 60 years like maple... I won't have to worry about that. I kept the peghead and neck shaft a hair thicker than I normally do. I'm thinking of doing another one because I like it so much.






Body...pine...pickguard pine... pickup bobbin...pine....


This is a pine neck and body I built but never finished. ( That happens around here some times) I gave a few projects to a friend of mine and hope to see it done some day.

 

[Bobtastic]

Wow! Thanks for all of the replies!
I really thought this thread was going to be rather unhelpful after the first comment.

The grain of the wood is very straight on the top and quite tight. I had thought of using carbon fibre rods to add some stability, but that may end up costing as much as some good wood.

If at the very lease it has been good and fun practice.