The Luthier's CSI: November 2021 American Standard "Rib Cancer" resurrection

Two days ago it was sunny, warm, and I had green grass, so I brought my old Wysong sander outside and blasted a couple of pounds of sawdust into the wind and roughed out a new neck for big red. Wysong was primarily a furniture factory outfitter back when North Carolina was a global heavy, made up the road in Greensboro. 'Easy to find around here and about the perfect size for making bass necks, from super aggressive to super smooth with about 750 lbs of cast iron holding it solid...



Most of the necks and scroll grafts I do for other people are from European maple blanks; around $3-500 for just the blanks, depending upon the grade and figure. When I build them on spec or for shop bases, I usually have a a bit more fun using what I have available. The rafters are filed with a lifetime of wood collecting here, so the choices are plenty. Everyone who played the other neck really liked it, so I decided to keep a similar theme:



The Wysong allows me to get a nice full length taper on the center beam. I made the platten from 1/2" 1018 cold rolled steel and then had a machinist level it on a Bridgeport mill, so it is within .002" across the whole 40" length; fast and accurate.



Tennessee maple and padauk for the main neck. There is some extra mass left for an extension.



I've had this a great big beam of macassar ebony sitting in the rafters for about 15 years; 'seemed like a good time to use it. I like the color and it plays well with the other woods. There is a boatload of carbon fiber beams underneath it.







Snowbound scroll carving....