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Neck Woods: Looking for a Maple Alternative

#101
Double E said:
Yeah, I agree to an extent but I have never seen a piece of maple that felt or looked like mahogany or wenge or ash. Clearly there is enough similarity between different samples of maple to call it all maple.

For instance, I am sure you'd be able to pick up several different types of maple and identify it as maple...any good woodworker can identify a wood by sight, touch and smell. So a simple answer that would satisfy the OP would be to suggest a type of wood that most consistently has physical characteristics similar to maple.
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I agree that I've never seen a piece of maple that looked like mahogany or wenge. However, I would say that the only "similarity" between different samples of maple is usually the unfinished color…upon close inspection when birdseyes and flames and quilt and other stuff start to become apparent - which is when specific structural differences - and associated construction considerations - come into play.
 
#102
Double E said:
Then you could answer the question using your preference as the point of reference.
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Not really, but I did suggest walnut or jatoba because when cutting, sanding, and finishing they are both similar to maple on a wood working basis. But padauk and ash were brought up alot in this thread as a maple alternative, when structurally they are not at all similar to maple.

Here are a few different pieces of maple. If you knew nothing about wood, do you think you would know that they were all the same species? There is also a wide range of structural properties between them, it is a very inconsistent material. These are all types of maple that necks are commonly made from, I left out quilt and spalted maple because they are not suitable for necks. So to ask, what is similar to maple is a very difficult question to answer, because maple is not even similar to maple.

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#104
If you were suspend disbelief for a moment, you'd probably have to agree that if wood could possibly affect tone, it would be on account of it's physical characteristics and not some magic voodoo in the wood.

Most avid woodworkers are pretty familiar with the characteristics of different woods. This should qualify you enough to say something like this:

"I am not sure about tonal similarity, but the physical properties of widgetwood is similar to maple, so it may sound the same."
 
#105
Double E said:
If you were suspend disbelief for a moment, you'd probably have to agree that if wood could possibly affect tone, it would be on account of it's physical characteristics and not some magic voodoo in the wood.
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Isn't that exactly what I have been talking about? The extreme structural differences within the same species of woods

Most avid woodworkers are pretty familiar with the characteristics of different woods. This should qualify you enough to say something like this:

"I am not sure about tonal similarity, but the physical properties of widgetwood is similar to maple, so it may sound the same."
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You mean like I did on page 2

Hopkins said:
Well, first of all, what other woods is the body going to be made of. Some woods just won't work aesthetically with other woods. I won't quote on the tonal signature, because I think aesthetics are far more important, but walnut is the most similar wood to soft maple that I have worked with as far as hardness and grain consistency. Jotoba is pretty similar to hard maple. I have worked with padauk as well as wenge, neither of them I would consider structurally similar to maple.

But personally, you are putting way to much stock into the tonal contributions of the neck wood, and you could stand to be a little less short with people when asking opinions on a public forum.
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#108
Hopkins said:
Again, this is an assumption that wood is a consistent material. A hard rock maple board is going to be very different structurally to a wider grained soft maple board. Quotes like "padauk has a slight mid bump at 400hz is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about. That is way to precise of a number to attribute it to the neck wood. If we were building basses with a consistent man made material, like carbon fiber or fiberglass, then it may be possible to give a more straight forward answer.
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I made that quote and it varies a little of course but yes...about 400. I'm not the only one who thinks that.
I was on topic with the op, you actually started taking in a different direction.

I don't care about the debate people can believe what they want. I was assiting the op who happens to have the same thought process as I do.
 
#109
TonyP- said:
I made that quote and it varies a little of course but yes...about 400. I'm not the only one who thinks that.
I was on topic with the op, you actually started taking in a different direction.

I don't care about the debate people can believe what they want. I was assiting the op who happens to have the same thought process as I do.
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Its not about a debate, its about people describing tone wood in an absolute, matter of fact, manner when the material is so wildly variable. It is purely marketing and people have bought into it, hook line and sinker. But if you would humor me, how come you never hear, "this wood is beautiful, but it sounds terrible, or this wood is awful looking, but it sounds amazing. Why are beautiful woods all nice sounding, where not so great looking woods like poplar, oak, or basswood are talked about like they are second rate tonally?
 
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#110
Hopkins said:
Its not about a debate, its about people describing tone wood in an absolute, matter of fact, manner when the material is so wildly variable. It is purely marketing and people have bought into it, hook line and sinker. But if you would humor me, how come you never hear, "this wood is beautiful, but it sounds terrible, or this wood is awful looking, but it sounds amazing. Why are beautiful woods all nice sounding, where not so great looking woods like poplar, oak, or basswood are talked about like they are second rate tonally?
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Ok I'm not one that says ALL pretty wood is great sounding.
I have never said that.
(Some of it is not for me)
For the record my fretless is basswood...I like it (and I could have whatever I want) As for maple necks I prefer the plainer grain (I find it more stable then anything figured)
We are not on the same page with this and that is fine.
 
#111
TonyP- said:
Ok I'm not one that says ALL pretty wood is great sounding.
I have never said that.
(Some of it is not for me)
For the record my fretless is basswood...I like it (and I could have whatever I want) As for maple necks I prefer the plainer grain (I find it more stable then anything figured)
We are not on the same page with this and that is fine.
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I was speaking in general, I wasn't assuming your opinions.
 

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