Hi!
Anyone got any simple datasheets or good links regarding this? Most I found contained just one, some had conflicting information, or had no means of seeing some data together to compare.

I'm thinking about making a fretless replacement neck for my Corvette using woods available locally from lumber stores. There's a huge collection of both local and exotics. I plan on making the neck lighter than the current ovangkol/wenge combination, as the bass has some neckdive.

Help is welcome!
Thanks!

I swear I'd never give these *-holes any business but they have some good data sheets attached to the wood species

go to righteoushardwoods.net and check out thier spec sheets
BUT DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM.
they are rude wood nazis and supporting thier business is just wrong.

Everyone who deals with them ends up hating them.I have not bought one single thing there ever because they are so self" righteous"


What do you have at your local yard over there maybe the local builders here could be of assistance.
I also know a little bit about woods properties and play bass as well.

Frank

Here you go.

http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/techmenu.html

Thanks guys! :hyper:

What do you have at your local yard over there maybe the local builders here could be of assistance.
I also know a little bit about woods properties and play bass as well.
I was just thinking and trying to make up my mind about which woods to use. Maybe I'll try european mountain maple with ovangkol or wenge.
There are hardwoods that grow in Europe and many exotic like afromosia, afzelia, jatoba, bubinga, merbau, ovangkol, paduak, wenge, etc. (of course most are called a different name, but their colour and figuring gives them away :) )

The fingerboard will most probably be ebony. Though, heavy as it is, I might change my mind. (Alternatives, anybody?)
Tone I'm looking for is growly, but with a bit more clarity and openness than that Corvette sound.
Neck will also have graphite bars.

Frank

Here you go.

http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/techmenu.html


Excellent source
but I cant find any ebony other than
.spp or black african

I was looking for,
brown arginitinian, black and white surasian, celebica and perreri.
or
dalbergia congestiflora
among others

any other lists that may have them?

any other lists that may have them?
Searching around, I found this one:
http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/wood/english/index.htm

Excellent source
but I cant find any ebony other than
.spp or black african

I was looking for,
brown arginitinian, black and white surasian, celebica and perreri.
The only properties I have been able to find for diosyros other than the general "spp." is for D. virginiana.
or
dalbergia congestiflora
among others
any other lists that may have them?Nothing on congestiflora.

I've got a few numbers on a few other dalbergias, but they are from before I started recording the source links.

A wikipedia search on dalbergia could help (following the links from there). Also googling "dalbergia properties" or "dalbergia modulus".

Now I'm thinking of a maple/merbau/wenge/merbau/maple neck.
I've seen a certain member named M_A_T_T say good things about merbau (Intsia Acuminata), but has anyone else tried it? I think the colour would go great with the others, and has very good specs (MOE 2020-2320, Janka 1500-1925).

go to righteoushardwoods.net and check out thier spec sheets
BUT DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM.
they are rude wood nazis and supporting thier business is just wrong.

Everyone who deals with them ends up hating them.I have not bought one single thing there ever because they are so self" righteous"


I have visited Righteous Woods many times and have never found them to be rude wood nazis. I've always found the main exotics guy Steve to be quite friendly if a bit nutty. In fact they were a good source for me when I was in MA. Your mileage may vary, especially if you are a wood dealer yourself.

Frank - merbau is about the same in density as wenge. Maple is on average about 10% less dense than ovangkol. Let us know how it goes in any case as I doubt many here have used merbau. If published numbers are to believed I would think you might look at makore, MOE ~ 2.0 and SG ~ .58

Janka is probably not so important to necks as it is to fingerboards and flooring.

Thanks, Matt!
I'll be sure to report back. I can't find makore, however, so I think I'll go with merbau.

One trick with Merbau - it likes to split. Take precautions like predrilling holes.

Thanks! I predrill holes anyway, but it's good to know that this is a tough case like wenge, which also likes to split...
We'll see how it works out, and whether I can find a piece good enough.

Edit: should I rather try doussié (afzelia), jatoba, or the super-dense and heavy ipé?

If you look at another thread here, you'll see Wilser's post that he made a ipe-jatoba neck, that came out so stiff that not only the strings don't bend it, the trussrod cannot bend it. It is permanently dead flat, with no relief.

Yes, I just saw that before reading this...
Well, I hope this won't turn out to be like that... if it does, then I can still sand a fretless board, as I had to with my abg :smug:
I think he made it with just ipé and jatoba; mine will be maple (20-22mm) - something (10mm) - wenge (20-22mm) - something (10mm) - maple (20-22mm); and this will be a 6stringer, with high-tension strings.

Makore, is like
Bosse
Red Cedar
or even redwood... in cutting, glueing etc.

Pretty soft stuff and very easy to work with.
Some people have a nasal reaction.

Often has figure in it like a rope curl or mottle.

Unfortunately I don't see makore in the catalog... so it looks like one less option, but still plenty more...

Finding numbers on the internet is about as reliable as throwing darts at a dartboard. Here is a nice, full table of numbers, but I'm not sure I trust them.

http://www.worldwideflood.com/ark/wood/timber_list.htm

Makore seems tougher to me than redwood and red cedar. As I understand redwood there's a pretty big variance of densities but the stuff I have used/seen is pretty light and not very tough. I have not used makore for a neck so I can't vouch for it but its numbers seemed interesting from Suburban's (I think it was his) spreadsheet.

The above table (if you can believe it) seems to indicate that sassafrass is pretty stiff. I wonder if that would make a good neck wood. The stuff is fairly low density.

Oh and by the way, what are your opinions on more traditional woods that are widely available in Europe, like elm, oak, birch, acacia, cherry, European walnut, European ash, European mountain maple, etc?
Just curious for future projects :)

I havent built anything with makore but it cut like cedar and redwood.

Most like Bosse.

I dont think I'd recommend it for a neck , seems too soft.
it is denser than redwood and cedar, but If you havent used bosse its kinda in a league of its own.
Its soft but not too soft its a very light hardwood.

I just found more reliable numbers on sassafras and it would appear to be a Crappy neck wood. Just so no one runs out and makes a sassafras neck. ;)

Oh and by the way, what are your opinions on more traditional woods that are widely available in Europe, like
elm
Absolutely lovely body wood! Neck? Well, not to my liking. Not stiff enough, just around 11 MPa (hard maple is 11.2MPa).
oak
Very good neck wood at 13 MPa.
birch
Downy birch is the best neck wood in the book:hiding: 16MPa at only 0.65 kg/litre! Stiff and light.
acacia
No opinion due to no experience.
cherry
Lovely body wood. Very similar to elm, actually.
European walnut
Also very similar to elm and cherry, slightly less stiff.
European ash
Ash is ash...it seems more difficult to find a light ash ("swamp ash") in Europe, though.
European mountain maple
Very few European maples show enough stiffness to suffice for a long neck. They are good for viola stuff, but not for guitar or bass guitar - historcal guitars very rarely use maple necks (and only Scandinavian seems to regularly use birch, du to the variation between varieties).

In short, there is no tonal reason to import wood for instruments. There may be aestetic, but elm, cherry, other fruit trees and even alder can be very nicely figured and have intriguing basic colors.
Speaking of which...you may be interested in olive...;)

Thanks Sub!

By future projects I meant basses, not just necks ;)
Nonetheless, this has been very useful.

I've met acacia as the fingerboard of my ABG.
After I defretted it, I've tried coating it, but the mylar sheet method didn't work out; however, it seemed strong enough to try without. I can see some barely noticeable marks of vibrato, but it has taken a year of roundwounds without grooves. I know it's hard, but not sure how hard it is. Might be anohter interesting wood to check out.

If you look at another thread here, you'll see Wilser's post that he made a ipe-jatoba neck, that came out so stiff that not only the strings don't bend it, the trussrod cannot bend it. It is permanently dead flat, with no relief.
Funny, I just spotted on Bunnybass a D'Alegria with an all-ipê neck. Maybe since it's a four-string jazz type, it's thin enough to be able to move.

Thanks Sub!

By future projects I meant basses, not just necks ;)

Well, my take on body wood: anything!:)
You'll find a lot of nice variants on your nextdoor backyard, and you could top it with any fruit wood for beauty.

BTW, there is a flower bush I believe is called lilac. That is a very hard and wear resistant wood, at least if it's slow grown as in Sweden. It is also quite difficult to handle, since it twists a lot when growing. But the end result as a fingerboard must be marvellous (I haven't found any good piece yet, it's extremely rare here, but I've seen some breathtaking furniture).

Hi Peter et al,

Rodrigo from D'Alegria here; I have just subscribed to Talkbass.com.

I saw this thread and the discussions about several different types of woods. Particularly about Ipê, what I have to say is that it is in fact an excellent choice for both neck and fingerboard. Not easy to work with, I might add, but the final result is very good, with excellent stability and sound.

We use Ipê on 4-, 5- and 6-string basses, and although you guys are right when you say that little or no effect is caused by the strings tension in a neck made of it, the truss rod on the other hand should work (it is not THAT hard).

So, the pros of using Ipê are mainly stability, sound, stiffness and a great sustain. Specific cuts can provide very beautiful necks too. The cons are of course the difficulty to work with it, and sometimes the weight that can cause some neck diving if certain cares are not observed.

Any specific questions, please feel free to ask!

Rodrigo

Welcome to TB! Those are some nice-looking basses you make.