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Thread: Mahogany Neck.

  1. #1

    Default Mahogany Neck.

    Looking round the garage for something rough to cut up as practice to make a neck, I picked up an old dinghy centreboard. Looked rough as hell, but after discounting ragged edges and putting a straight cut down the middle it turns out to be good quality mahogany, and I reckon at least 50 years old, rather too good for practice. Genuine sapele at a guess. Reckon it should thickness down to 20mm planks.

    I see mahogany necks are a thing. How does the strength compare with [correction] maple? Should I allow a bit more wood, or will it actually bend less?
    Last edited by JimCh; Apr-20-2020 at 1:48pm. Reason: s/spruce/maple/

  2. #2
    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    Fine for a neck, Gibson made thousands. Never heard of a spruce neck.
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  4. #3
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    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    Nice find.
    We don't use spruce for necks, it is too soft and weak. Mahogany is indeed stronger than spruce.
    We do use maple for necks, and generally speaking, it is probably a bit stronger than mahogany.

    It is a good idea to reinforce a mahogany neck. In the old days, Gibson inlayed a triangular maple strip in their necks below the fingerboard. Martin sometimes used a rectangular strip of ebony for neck reinforcements. Metal reinforcements have also been used, along with a vast array of adjustable truss rod systems. These days, carbon fiber is popular for a solid neck reinforcement.

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  6. #4

    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    Nice find.
    We don't use spruce for necks, it is too soft and weak.
    I'm getting old. I meant maple.
    Thanks folks. I have plenty of carbon on the shelf..

  7. #5
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    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    I make those kind of mistakes also.

    Back to your question: Look at it this way-- probably much more than half of the mandolins ever made were built with mahogany necks. Maple necks were not very common until the last 2 or 3 decades, when it started to drastically increase in popularity.

    Mandolins have a lot of string tension, therefore it is a good idea to reinforce the necks no matter what they are made of.

  8. #6

    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    Back when, mahogany, even the beautiful Cuban stuff, was imported in quantity, and used for even cheap things. My sand-casting molds are mostly nice clean mahogany - because it shapes easily. I’ll use them for something, someday. These days, a whole variety of things are sold as m. But they vary a great deal in all properties. I do think of mahogany as a weaker wood.
    On the other hand, ipe, which is mostly seen in decking, is some seriously strong wood, although a challenge for power tools, and really heavy. I cleaned up the surface on some scrap, and it even finishes nicely. Probably wouldn’t glue easily though, and the dust is toxic.

  9. #7

    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    Well, I've sort of made a start. So we'll see. I'm trying to source some maple for a centre stripe. At the moment I'm converting my sapele board to flat square planks, and missing my father's thicknesser, which is locked down 40 miles away, dreadfully. Due to limited tools here its mainly by hand sanding, and taken a week to do what I could do in a morning with the thicknesser. Next I shall be missing the bandsaw I expect.

  10. #8
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    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    When your hands get tired, try to remember that Strad didn't have no bandsaw. It won't make your hands quit aching, but it will remind you of what can be done without power tools.

    Clever design work can facilitate some of the jobs that are usually done by big power tools. Look at it this way-- an alternative to cutting a truss rod channel with a router is making a 3 piece laminated neck with the top of the center lamination ~3/8" below the tops of the outer pieces.

    And never underestimate the value of a couple of well sharpened cabinet scrapers.

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  12. #9
    Registered User tree's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    If you have a jack plane, Chris Schwarz is your friend. Tune it, get a spare iron so you can have one for rough work and one for jointing, shape the rough iron with a 8" - 10" radius and the iron for jointing straight across with rounded corners, and save yourself some time.
    Clark Beavans

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  14. #10

    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    When your hands get tired, try to remember that Strad didn't have no bandsaw.
    Probably had apprentices though, which is next best thing [grin]

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    an alternative to cutting a truss rod channel with a router is making a 3 piece laminated neck with the top of the center lamination ~3/8" below the tops of the outer pieces.
    Funnily enough that was already part of the plan... Thanks for confirming its sensible. I hope to get a piece of maple to do the centre lamination.

    A feature of the current situation is that I want to try and avoid buying tools I already have at the other site.

  15. #11
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    Default Re: Mahogany Neck.

    Quote Originally Posted by JimCh View Post
    Probably had apprentices though, which is next best thing [grin]
    Well, despite some recent comments by forum members who haven't bothered to read the history books, it is generally believed that Strad did not take apprentices, except perhaps Carlo Bergonzi. Two of his sons are believed to have helped out, though.

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