Is roasted maple more stable

[Qstick]

I've read a few conflicting reports and thought I’d ask some folks that know way more than me.

Is roasted maple as a neck material more stable than a regular finished maple neck? Im in the early stages of planning my next guitar and can’t find what I want so I might have to get it built. Since that leaves most options wide open I thought it might be worth considering roasted maple.


Thanks!

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Well, regular sugar maple is the standard Fender neck material. It's stable enough, eh? I can't imagine roasted would make it less stable, so ...

 

[wadeeinkauf]

When speaking JUST of stability some builders say that there is an advantage to roasting maple if the maple is highly figured...the thought being that this highly figured wood is more susceptible to warpage and twisting due to humidity changes.

I now only used quarter sawn roasted maple for my builds....quarter sawn because of the widely held belief that quarter sawn if more stable and the roasted maple because of the look.

In many ways I have found roasted maple harder to use than kiln dried maple. It is very pron to chipping. It sands much easier and faster which is good but you must take care not to over sand....one piece necks sanding a radius. Also it becomes critical that the fret slots are cut precisely and not cut too wide. My experience is that the roasted maple does not "grab" the fret wire tangs very well if not cut exactly to the wire's dimension.

Having said all that I will tell you my second to last neck was so stable that I had great trouble getting the truss rod to bend the neck in one direction from dead flat. Usually we need the truss rod to bend back the neck from the forces caused by string tension. In my case I need to use the truss rod to put in the slight bow needed. I had to do this over several days..keep in mind we only need .010 for a 9.5-12 fret board radius.
I buy my roasted maple neck blanks from American Specialty Hardwood. I have purchased 6 and all have been outstanding...

(link removed)

 

[perttime]

In "roasting" (torrefaction, heat treating) making the wood less susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity is one of the original goals. As said, maple necks don't usually suffer from that problem without either.

I like the look of heat treated wood.

 

[cabra velha]

Having said all that I will tell you my second to last neck was so stable that I had great trouble getting the truss rod to bend the neck in one direction from dead flat. Usually we need the truss rod to bend back the neck from the forces caused by string tension. In my case I need to use the truss rod to put in the slight bow needed. I had to do this over several days..keep in mind we only need .010 for a 9.5-12 fret board radius.

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I've only used it twice and this is my experience as well, roasted maple really doesn't want to bend at all. One of the necks I actually had to "help" it a little, although I'm a little embarrassed to describe it in detail (don't try this at home kids).

More stable? I've grown an aversion to highly figured maple from one too many cracking and twisting adventures. You definitely need to drill proper pilot holes and lube your screws. I'm living in a nearly arid climate right now, but when I move back to the humid mid atlantic I'll provide a stability report.

 

[S00NERMAN]

Roasted maple is more stable than kiln dried. Looking at Warmoth's website there is no requirement for finishing a roasted maple neck as there is with the regular old kiln dried stuff. I just recently got an unfinished one in the Gibson scale length and '59 contour, and the string tension barely moved it off of dead flat. I do like the pleasant odor it gives off as well, but think the folks that say it smells just like pancake syrup are just hungry.

 

[Ronkirn]

why is it even an issue.. it's not like a "regular" neck is "off the charts" Unstable..

If ya want roasted maple, get it, that fact that ya want it is all ya need as a rationalization.. but it's not gonna make your playing anything it's not now... the stuff is good lookin; though isn't it.

r

 

[wadeeinkauf]

why is it even an issue.. it's not like a "regular" neck is "off the charts" Unstable..

If ya want roasted maple, get it, that fact that ya want it is all ya need as a rationalization.. but it's not gonna make your playing anything it's not now... the stuff is good lookin; though isn't it.

r

Yes Sir!

 

[printer2]

I make acoustics so I can repost on thin sections. I built two bodies with roasted maple. In dry weather one cracked and one did not. So it is dependent on the tree it came from, as always has been. I know people like wild looking wood but I look for the straightest grain, boring looking wood. It does not matter for a neck if it is quartered or flat sawn, boesn't bother Fender any. But once you get wavy grain lines the wood is going to move at a different rate compared to the rest of the wood.

 

[Picton]

Does your brain tell you it is?

If yes, then it’s more stable. If no, then it isn’t. Kind of like tone.

 

[devrock]

If anything, the raosted maple smells so good, it's worth using. I get the roasted BE boards from LMII and sanding makes it smell like a campfire.