Two Piece Necks

[mandough]

I recently got a piece of maple to make some mandolin necks for my first project.
The maple is only 1 inch thick and I need to join two pieces with a slice of ebony down the middle (or rosewood if that's possible).

The question is, does anyone have a neck like this on their mandolin?
Is there any strength issues involved with building a neck like this?

Pictures would be most appreciated!

[Jim Hilburn]

I'm starting an "A", and I had some black dyed veneer, so I sandwiched that with another strip of maple and got this effect. The veneer is from LMI and costs a lot less than ebony.

[b.pat]

Here is a picture of my Driftwood neck [in process]. It is quilted maple and ebony.

[joshags03]

I just posted my latest 3-piece neck in the post-a-picture under Finished at last!

[Darryl Wolfe]

A few I have started

[Scotti Adams]

Darryl..how many known Loars out there have this style neck?..not all do..correct?....what was/is the reasoning for it...??

[mandough]

Good question, Scotti.
Also, Darryl, I see your photo of your neck blocks...which side would you recommend the grain of the wood be orientated?
Would the tops of these be the bottoms, or vice versa?

[Darryl Wolfe]

The fingerboard surface is at the top in that picture. I don't think the grain direction matters too much on a three-piece neck..provided that it opposes itself. These have been slip matched because the stock wasn't large enough for one-pice.

Scotty..I'm not sure how many Loars are 3-piece, but most '22's are, and a few '23's....maybe like about 15-20. There are also some Ferns with 3-piece

[mandough]

Hey Darryl,
Where did you get that ebony for your necks? I've been looking but cant find a place that sells ebony in that size.
Are you using one piece of ebony running through the whole piece?
If anybody else knows, please let me know.
I've just made all of my templates from acryllic and am starting to piece together my wood. Exciting!

[Darryl Wolfe]

I buy large ebony lumber for my bridges. It varies piece to piece but usually 1-1/2" to 2-1/2" thick by 3" to 5" wide by 20" to 30" long. I skim off fingerboards and venners before cutting it into "bridge sticks" for the tops and bottoms. I get it from Charlotte Hardwoods in NC, but there's some decent stuff on EBAY under ebony lumber

[mandough]

Hey Darryl,
How thick do you make your veneer to put though the middle of your necks? Would you consider Rosewood a viable option or do you think that it's too oily?

[Darryl Wolfe]

Those are about 0.100"-0.110"..thickness doesn't matter really...just looks/preference. Rosewood will probably fine..you might want to make sure it's seasoned well, or maybe heat some of the oil out...ebony is the same way. The original Gibsons were probably a dyes/soaked pearwood of sorts....you can see where the pearwood shrinks and the mahogany doesn't on many of them (in the peghead area)

[Michael Lewis]

One point to remember when gluing veneers in a neck is to get plenty of glue on the maple becuse the veneer will soak up lots of moisture and can leave a glue starved joint.

[Jim Hilburn]

I've posted a diagram of how I like to do a 3-piece before, but this seems like a good place to do it again.
It's exactly like bookmatching tops and backs...only different. You get a quartersawn neck.
The concept is to use a slab-sawn board and draw a centerline right at the apex of the rings. This line will be the fingerboard surface. At this apex, your right where it's 90 degrees to the grainlines,so the fingerboard surface will be dead on quarter.
The next thing is to glue your blanks together with the grainlines radiating outward. This gives you long straight grainlines down the neck without any baseball bat look, and with the natural curve of the grain, you usually get more quartersawn rays along the back of the neck,plus the best possible figure.

[Luthier Vandross]

Yeah, flat sawn figured, cut slabs, and flip to qtr., I have never had a neck delaminate.

Archtops, and mandos.. most guitars just get ears. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif


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