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Wenge Neck

#21
I had a wenge necked Thumb 4 BO bow excessively, but it was a result of it being in some high temps. Eventually got it straightened out, but after that it was fine. The other bass in the car at the time (Fender MIJ P bass) bowed very little and re-set on it's own.

That said, I looooooove the wenge necks on Warwicks. Their best standard production neck IMO. The ovankol ones are nice, but the wenge is so much nicer!
 
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#26
I have a Dingwall with an all wenge neck, it's my favourite neck wood at this point. Mine is laminated and has not had any issues (I've never heard of anyone else having them either).
There is a big upcharge for wenge with Dingwall because it's apparently a real pain to work with over other woods. I suspect this could well have something to do with your builder trying to steer you away from it.
 
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#29
Venturella said:
I've never own a bass with wenge neck but I did play it when i was getting a new bass like a year ago. It was a warwick corvette 5 string and I really enjoyed how it wrapped around my hand and the overall texture of the wood. But the luthier who sets my bass up didnt recommend wenge necks. He said that they will turn in some weird shapes rather than taking a little bow shaped curves like maple necks if they arent treated right. So here goes my questions.
How are wenge necks in general?
Is it true that wenge necks will turn in odd ways instead of a bow like curve? If yes, how do i avoid it?
What are the treatments for the wenge necks that my luthier talked about?
Click to expand...

Sounds like he's just making stuff up to me ;)

In my experience, wenge necks are the most stable, best feeling and best sounding out of the tone woods currently available.
 
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#31
I love wenge necks. I own several Warwick and the necks are what drew me to them. It feels nice and buttery in the hand and it a stiff and hard wood. But like all woods it will move seasonally etc. YMMV depending on where you live and where the bass travels to and from.
 
#32
Wenge, or purpleheart, also referred to as "nature's carbon fiber". :woot:

I'd suspect that purpleheart for an entire neck would be quite heavy, though, like an all-ebony neck.

Mike Tobias has said that, lately, he and his crew have been discovering that ash necks, believe it or not, have been a good substitute for wenge ones. Who would've thought?
 
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#34
Never heard of this statement ever in a conversation regarding Wenge wood. As others have stated - Wenge would probably be one of the very, very last woods on a list to worry about bowing or warping or twisting. It's extremely rigid & very stable. I have had a couple Ibanez SR instruments with Wenge necks and not a one have given me an ounce of trouble, rarely even a seasonal truss adjustment - and Ibanez builds those SR necks extremely thin as most people know. Nor do I believe I have ever heard of a single Wenge SR neck (other any other brand) developing trouble here on TB for that matter. I think this concern will likely turn out to be a non-issue for you. It's a beautiful wood to boot! Best of luck! :thumbsup:

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#35
Wood is an organic substance so there's naturally going to be some outliers here and there. Bear in mind that people aren't going to bring in a perfectly fine instrument for him to repair. He might also be making an assumption based on the huge open grain structure and believing that this will allow moisture in and out.
 
#36
OP - get a new luthier, the one you're currently using is slightly twisted and maybe crooked (at the very least, he's incompetent).

Wenge is as stable as any other common neck wood if used in a laminate setting. It's a wonderful feeling and playing wood that needs very little care and maintenance. That said, many luthiers don't like to work with raw wenge when it comes to making a neck because the splinters are down right nasty, but that's not an issue on a finished neck.
 
#39
I'm not a luthier, but I've read many posts over in the Luther's Corner where they mention that Wenge is tricky to work with not because of warping, but because it causes small splinters like dealing with fiberglass and you definitely need a mask to avoid the dust more so than most other woods.

Maybe your guy just doesn't want to deal with it.
 
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