Advice on Mahogany Necks

[Okieactor]

Hey There,
It’s been a while since I posted here.

I’m getting back into building and have some Stewmac 1” mahogany neck blanks I got a good deal on. I’m attempting several builds and wanted to do a couple necks out of mahogany.

Question: Is it necessary to stiffen a mahogany tele neck with a strip of another type of wood (making it a 3-piece, or I guess a 4-piece with the rosewood fingerboard)? And if you feel stiffening is necessary, would carbon rods on either side of the truss rod instead make it stiff enough?

Would also love to see pics of mahogany necks any of you have made, especially showing anything unique you may have done in the construction.

I plan to use threaded inserts for the bolts, too, if that makes a difference.

 

[Peegoo]

@Okieactor

So long as you're installing a truss rod, there's really no need to install a stiffener.

Some mahoganys have convoluted grain and can twist under tension/compression, so sometimes stiffeners are used under the fretboard. But most mahoganys are straight-grained and very stable; that's why it's been such a widely-used neck wood for so long.

 

[guitarbuilder]

If you search in this forum for "let's make a neck", you'll see 3 threads. Among them are various woods, techniques, and styles, Mahogany included.

Just stick a truss rod in there and you'll be fine. I prefer quartersawn or rift sawn myself.

 

[Freeman Keller]

I build almost exclusively mahogany (or Spanish cedar) neck. I use double acting truss rods and on the last one added two carbon fiber beams but that was to support a floating frerboard extension on an archtop - the CF made the neck almost too stiff. On any neck with an angled head I use scarf joints and stacked blocks for heels. That way I can get the entire neck out of one 1 X 3 X 36 board. Here are a few mahogany necks

Fender style for a tele clone, mahogany neck and body, rosewood f/b, maple headplate veneer,


A double neck guitar with set necks. Mahogany necks and body, rosewood boards, maple headplates



Mahogany and maple laminated neck, done for looks, not strength


Here is the one with the carbon fiber beams



You get the idea. Mahogany takes stains well particularly reds and browns if you want to match rosewood or something. Mahogany is an open pore wood so it should be pore filled before finishing. It carves beautifully, I use a spoke shave and scraper to carve all my necks. Very stiff and stable, there is a good reason that it is the standard for acoustic instruments. Spanish cedar is slightly lighter and is my preference for classical guitars.

I use threaded inserts on bolt on M&T necks on acoustic guitars but don't see a need for them on screw on Fender style necks. They are certainly a good idea if you plan to take the neck off and on very much but can be a hassle to jig up the drilling.

 

[Swirling Snow]

Keep in mind Gibson and Martin (and many others) settled on mahogany as the ideal tone wood for their "sound". I wouldn't try to stiffen it as it's natural resonance is highly prized.

 

[Trenchant63]

I build almost exclusively mahogany (or Spanish cedar) neck. I use double acting truss rods and on the last one added two carbon fiber beams but that was to support a floating frerboard extension on an archtop - the CF made the neck almost too stiff. On any neck with an angled head I use scarf joints and stacked blocks for heels. That way I can get the entire neck out of one 1 X 3 X 36 board. Here are a few mahogany necks

Fender style for a tele clone, mahogany neck and body, rosewood f/b, maple headplate veneer,
View attachment 1168835View attachment 1168837View attachment 1168839

A double neck guitar with set necks. Mahogany necks and body, rosewood boards, maple headplates

View attachment 1168840View attachment 1168841

Mahogany and maple laminated neck, done for looks, not strength
View attachment 1168843View attachment 1168844

Here is the one with the carbon fiber beams

View attachment 1168845View attachment 1168846View attachment 1168847

You get the idea. Mahogany takes stains well particularly reds and browns if you want to match rosewood or something. Mahogany is an open pore wood so it should be pore filled before finishing. It carves beautifully, I use a spoke shave and scraper to carve all my necks. Very stiff and stable, there is a good reason that it is the standard for acoustic instruments. Spanish cedar is slightly lighter and is my preference for classical guitars.

I use threaded inserts on bolt on M&T necks on acoustic guitars but don't see a need for them on screw on Fender style necks. They are certainly a good idea if you plan to take the neck off and on very much but can be a hassle to jig up the drilling.

Those are some damned good eye candy pictures - or should I see “eye cocoa” - rich looking stain work! Nice job!

 

[Telenator]

I always carve a generous volute into my necks. Never had one snap off.
A nice thick piece of ebony adds strength and looks great on top of the peghead too!

 

[Freeman Keller]

Keep in mind Gibson and Martin (and many others) settled on mahogany as the ideal tone wood for their "sound". I wouldn't try to stiffen it as it's natural resonance is highly prized.

Gibson has used adjustable truss rods (which do stiffen the neck), Martin put ebony and then square tube non adjustable truss rods up until the 1970's. Many classical builders (who do not install truss rods) still stiffen the neck

 

[Swirling Snow]

Gibson has used adjustable truss rods (which do stiffen the neck), Martin put ebony and then square tube non adjustable truss rods up until the 1970's. Many classical builders (who do not install truss rods) still stiffen the neck

You misunderstood. I wasn't suggesting no truss rod on a steel string guitar, I just don't think additional stiffeners should be used. "Proper use of materials" and so forth. If you want a stiff, twangy neck, then use maple. But if you have some nice mahogany, then let it resonate as much as possible.

OTOH, FWIW, I have an all mahogany tele and it twangs just fine. It does have an ebony fretboard, however.

 

[orbiterred]

My advice: enjoy working with it as much as possible because you'll be done quicker than you think and wanting to do another

This is my second I've built from the same mahogany you have (stewmac Honduran blanks), it's a pure joy to work with. Dual action truss rod, no carbon fiber or anything.

The first I did for my all mahogany telecaster deluxe, it's no doubt my favorite material to build necks from (vs my experience with maple/birdseye maple) at this point.

After one coat of Osmo Polyx (Satin i think):

Pre osmo:

My tele deluxe for good measure:

The wood machines, carves, rasps/sands incredibly easily, you need to be a bit more careful than maple that you don't get overzealous and take too much off when you're finalizing the transitions and stuff. But that also means you don't need to bust your ass sanding every imperfection out. I wish I had 100 blanks Have fun!

 

[Mojotron]

I made this one with an aluminum skunk stripe, but I make mahogany necks like a one piece maple necks with a diy vintage truss-rod and a 1/4” piece of rosewood glued on as a fretboard. No difference in how I make necks with different woods. That approach always worked great for me, I don’t use heavier dual action rods because they seem to dampen the neck’s resonance.

 

[Telenator]

I made this one with an aluminum skunk stripe, but I make mahogany necks like a one piece maple necks with a diy vintage truss-rod and a 1/4” piece of rosewood glued on as a fretboard. No difference in how I make necks with different woods. That approach always worked great for me, I don’t use heavier dual action rods because they seem to dampen the neck’s resonance.

View attachment 1169203

Is that Douglas Fir? Tough to get it smooth!

 

[dspellman1]

Question: Is it necessary to stiffen a mahogany tele neck with a strip of another type of wood (making it a 3-piece, or I guess a 4-piece with the rosewood fingerboard)? And if you feel stiffening is necessary, would carbon rods on either side of the truss rod instead make it stiff enough?

Necessary? No. Literally tons of guitars out there with single-piece mahogany necks (see: Les Paul Standards, et. al.).

 

[Mojotron]

Is that Douglas Fir? Tough to get it smooth!

Yes it is and yes it is!

If you only ever touch the wood with sandpaper using a hard block (I use counter top sample blocks) and scrapers - then it's no problem at all. I made this body when I was in a "scraper-does-everything" mode. For that body, the rough shaping was all done with rasps and a router, then sanding with 80 grit paper then about 95% of the smoothing from there was all done by scrapers of all kinds of shapes and sizes (mostly the spring steel ones from wood working shops, but I made a few from steel electrical box covers that I needed to re-sharpen often). Douglas-Fir and softer softwoods only get frustrating to work with if one sands without a hard block: The ridges in the grain end up being high spots across the surface... Scrapers eliminate that problem by always planing the surface flat. In the end, it's easier to surface a guitar body with a scraper on softer woods and sand paper works better for harder woods, but something like Swam-Ash is where I would use a scraper.

 

[Telenator]

Yes it is and yes it is!

If you only ever touch the wood with sandpaper using a hard block (I use counter top sample blocks) and scrapers - then it's no problem at all. I made this body when I was in a "scraper-does-everything" mode. For that body, the rough shaping was all done with rasps and a router, then sanding with 80 grit paper then about 95% of the smoothing from there was all done by scrapers of all kinds of shapes and sizes (mostly the spring steel ones from wood working shops, but I made a few from steel electrical box covers that I needed to re-sharpen often). Douglas-Fir and softer softwoods only get frustrating to work with if one sands without a hard block: The ridges in the grain end up being high spots across the surface... Scrapers eliminate that problem by always planing the surface flat. In the end, it's easier to surface a guitar body with a scraper on softer woods and sand paper works better for harder woods, but something like Swam-Ash is where I would use a scraper.

Even with hard, flat blocks, Douglas Fir can show its ribs if the sand paper is anything but super-tight around the block. Applying a finish can be equally difficult as the absorption rate of the grain varies dramatically.
I've often been tempted to try using a foam block on Dougkas Fir to over-dramatize the grain and make it very pronounced for seriously textured look. Rough and ready!

 

[Freeman Keller]

Even with hard, flat blocks, Douglas Fir can show its ribs if the sand paper is anything but super-tight around the block. Applying a finish can be equally difficult as the absorption rate of the grain varies dramatically.
I've often been tempted to try using a foam block on Dougkas Fir to over-dramatize the grain and make it very pronounced for seriously textured look. Rough and ready!

I have built five solid body guitars and one acoustic out of Douglas fir (not necks). I've had no trouble working with it or finishing. I'm a big believer in scrapers and edge tools, finishes were lacquer and French polish. Doug fir has properties similar to spruce and actually built a pretty nice sounding classical.

 

[Mojotron]

Even with hard, flat blocks, Douglas Fir can show its ribs if the sand paper is anything but super-tight around the block. Applying a finish can be equally difficult as the absorption rate of the grain varies dramatically.
I've often been tempted to try using a foam block on Dougkas Fir to over-dramatize the grain and make it very pronounced for seriously textured look. Rough and ready!

One way to do that would be to use walnut in a sandblaster: It works great on hard woods, but if used lightly I'm sure it would work well for softwoods too.

 

[Telenator]

One way to do that would be to use walnut in a sandblaster: It works great on hard woods, but if used lightly I'm sure it would work well for softwoods too.

You mean "walnut shells," yes?