Do I Choose Rock Hard Maple or Birdseye Maple for a Mammoth Neck Build?

[CheshireCatFun]

I'm choosing the wood for my bass build, and I'm down to either using regular Rock Hard Maple or Birdseye Maple for the neck. The challenge comes in when trying to find the right wood for the dimensions I need.

Right now I can do a milled 1.5" x 6" x 42" piece of quality RHM for about $17 locally, which would be ideal. I can then bandsaw off the 1/4" fretboard filet, have it slotted, and then glue it right back on for one of those Ernie Ball seamless effects. With a 1.5" (6/4) thickness to work with, it will be real easy to hone in on the perfect back profile, even with the larger dimensions I'm working with. Besides, the slotting service also sells pre-slotted fretboards, but nothing as wide as what I need, so I'll have to supply my own.

So, that all seems like a winner, except . . . I really love the look of Birdseye Maple!

Granted, I don't necessarily want my neck to look like it has chicken pox or goosebumps, but a lovely, moderate freckle of birdseyes looks fabulous. Also, given how wide the neck is, that will be a pretty massive expanse of blonde. A little bit of figuring will help add interest and break up the absolute monotony of an open, desolate desert nothing but blonde, non-descript figure.

However, if I do go with the BEM, then I will need a fairly thick, wide, and long piece, which is not locally available. The only thing I can do is get some 4/4 milled Birdseye, which isn't thick enough for the basically 5/4 neck (1.25") that I'm doing. Ergo, not only would the fretboard not be able to be sliced off of the BEM neck blank, but I will have to find a source for an at least 1/4 (0.25") BEM fretboard blank that would compliment whatever piece of 4/4 BEM neck blank I get, and hope that it blends well enough to create the seamless one-piece effect I'm looking for.

Not only that, to ensure that I'm getting a piece that will yield enough figure by the time I'm done carving it, I'll need a goodly number of A's in the designation, but the more A's I add, the pricier it all gets, and if I have to deal with out of state suppliers, that raises the complication factor even more. It sucks when you see the most perfect spot of figuring on a blank, only to watch it gradually fade away and ultimately vanish as you start carving into it.

So, what do you guys think? Go with the local - albeit mundane - sure thing and have a good choice in wood that will do a serviceable job, or try to "go for the gold", and hope it's not fool's gold, or a fool's errand, and that all the extra time, expense, and hassle, pays off?

Also, if there was a 1.5" x 6" x 42" milled piece of quality Birdseye Maple that was available, with plenty enough A's to boot, what would it cost? Would it prove too pricey? Well in excess of $17? And who would have it if it was available?

C.

[jmclearnon]

Is it a laminated neck?

[pablop]

what is a mammoth neck anyways?

[Doner Designs]

Almost wet myself when I first saw a roasted birdseye neck on a Stinray.

[depalm]

I'm also in the same situation and my choice is for hard rock maple.

I own two Music Man basses with BEM and both are really beautiful, but had lots of problems with them due to its instability. As I live in Rio, which is very humid place, birdseye maple usually requires constant maintenance.

My other basses with hard rock maple doesn't have this kind of problem.

2¢

[fisticuffs]

Do you want it to look pretty or stay in tune? There's your answer.

[T_Bone_TL]

Birdseye is cute, but unstable unless it's just a veneer over something stable. Function wins hands down for me.

You might consider (from what's locally available) a RHM neck with a BEM fretboard. That's a bit more than a veneer, but still might work. No "seamless effect", but it might combine pretty and functional in a pretty functional way. I'd probably slap a slice of dyed black maple (or natural cherry) veneer between the two - since it won't look seamless, rock that seam.

Or - BEM block inlays in a RHM neck/fretboard.

[ronaldpdbrandt]

Originally Posted by T_Bone_TL

I'd probably slap a slice of dyed black maple veneer between the two - since it won't look seamless, rock that seam.

I like this idea. I would +1 it if I believed in that sort of thing. Stability and beauty in the same bass...It can be done!

[BuffaloBass]

I had a very pretty piece of wood once, birdseye board and neck and it wasn't worth having to play with the truss rod on occasion. One gig the thing swelled and layed the strings right down on the neck.Thank God I had the allen wrench with me. Humid summers and dry winters here in Buffalo are not BEM friendly. Freaked me out. I adhere to the KISS method, and BEM cerates too much drama for me.

Local mundane wins the war.

ANS: BEM. Not for gigging you shouldn't. But if you wont gig and the axe stays inside in a controlled environment, then its OK I suppose.

[StuartV]

My Peavey Millennium has a birdseye neck and fretboard. And I have moved it from hot, super humid north Florida to hot, dry northern California valley. The neck on it has been totally stable. I normally don't even have to hardly touch the tuners, much less the truss rod.

[Habilis]

You might get more specific advice if you move this thread to the Luthier's Corner. Not that there's anything wrong with the advice you're getting here, as it is coming from people with experience. But, still...

[Fuzzbass]

My #1 warhorse bass was a 1989 EBMM Sabre with birdseye maple neck. In the decades I gigged it, the neck remained stable and I never had to tweak the trussrod more than the other basses I owned.

There was a point at which I suspected the neck might be having problems, but then I realized that the divots in the frets were deep. So I got a refret -- and wahlah, the bass played beautifully again.

I'm aware that figured wood is apparently less stable than non-figured, which is why Roger Sadowsky only uses roasted figured maple (heating the maple increases stability). But really, it is definitely not a given that a figured maple neck will have stability problems.

[Fuzzbass]

P.S. My recollection is that birdseye and flamed maple are hard rock maple, while quilted maple is the softer variety. This could explain why BE and flamed fingerboards are common, and quilted fingerboards are not. But I don't recall the source.

[HaMMerHeD]

Originally Posted by Fuzzbass

P.S. My recollection is that birdseye and flamed maple are hard rock maple, while quilted maple is the softer variety. This could explain why BE and flamed fingerboards are common, and quilted fingerboards are not. But I don't recall the source.

Not necessarily. For clarity, rock maple is Acer saccharum, and most other maple used in the US is either eastern red (Acer rubrum, usually sold as soft maple) or western bigleaf (Acer macrophyllum). Three species within the same genus. (There are, of course, many others.)

Birds-eye, flame, or quilt can occur in any of these. Flame is a good deal more common in eastern red and western bigleaf, but can happen in rock maple too. Birds-eye most commonly happens in rock maple.

As for stability....straight grain is generally thought of as being "better" than non-straight grain. I'm not sure how much stock I put in that idea, since most of the necks I've made featured wood with pronounced non-straight grain, and I haven't had any issues so far. Of course, my necks are almost all laminated of at least 3 pieces of wood.

[kvnjcbsn93]

Im not sure about stability. I rarely have to tune or adjust the truss rod on my warmoth birdseye maple neck. Its even better at staying in tune than my graphite necked bass

[blindrabbit]

I had a 1991 EBMM SR5 with a gorgeous BEM neck. 20 years and not a single problem with it. Looked great too.

[CheshireCatFun]

Originally Posted by pablop

what is a mammoth neck anyways?

What's a mammoth neck?

This . . .





C.