Birch neck?

hey, I picked up some really nice birch 1" x 5" today and was wondering if anyone here has built a neck out of birch? I know that gibson made their zuit suit riot sg or whatever its called out of birch laminate. but was I havent seen any necks out of straight up birch? I'm going to try it either way, but was just hopeing someone here had some experience with it as far as stability and tone versus maple?

thanks,
Kevin

Flat sawn or quarter sawn?

I have never made a neck with birch. I have a stash of flamed red birch and I have a carved top tele in the works using it for the top. It seems very much like maple in working with it for the top. Tap test reveal a similar tone. Mine is very figured, so it tears out easily, I have to thickness sand it instead of using a planer. I wish I had more info.

Flat sawn or quarter sawn?

Both:

http://www.gibson.com/Files/USA/SGs/Zoot-SG/Batched/SGZTRWCH1-Features-NeckJoint.jpg

http://www.tradenote.net/images/users/000/257/212/products_images/275275.jpg

:mrgreen:

thanks for the info guys, I'll just haveto try it and see what happens. and its plain sawn by the way. depending on how it goes, I might do some mohogany or red oak centers with birch outers in a laminate in the future.

What kind of Birch?
Sweet/Black Birch or Yellow Birch, probably.
Paper/White Birch, probably not.
Good luck.

Red Birch is is closer to oak in toughness and stabillity, but white birch is not all that stable flat sawn.

hmm, well I think it's white birch, but it might be red. because it's the exact same tone as as my red alder body blank. I'm thinking of using a 3/8" square steel tube instead of a truss rod, a la martin. either way, it'll be an experiment. it flexes very similar to maple in an 8foot length, seems about as dense, and the grain's very similar.

If you are unsure of the neck wood then a trussrod can save it if it gets temperamental. A non-adjusting one and it's in the bin.

ye true. well i have a single action lying around, i was just thinking of trying something new. but you're right, it could prevent a possible serious screw up