Three piece necks

**GaryM** · Nov-23-2004, 9:16pm

Thinking about pro's and cons of a three piece neck. I'm wondering if there is a reason I dont see as many around here. My friend play's an old A4 and while the it sounds beautiful to me, it seems quite bright and lacking in volume. I guess a strip of ebony down the center affects the tone. But how much? I really love the look of them and wonder (A) Would I be up to the challenge to build one for my first F5,,,,,OK nevermind (A)

(B) I think I recall somthing about gluing that was wierd. hnmmm. Hide glue wasn't the right choice?? I did a search and couldn't find much on it. No rush on the reply. Still shooting for 2009
Cheers

**Chris Baird** · Nov-24-2004, 8:04am

A 3 piece neck should not effect the tone (too much). I don't see why you couldn't use hide glue but I've never glued up a 3 piece with ebony in the middle. I like those ebony stripes but only if they are thin.

**J. Mark Lane** · Nov-24-2004, 11:55am

As a non-builder (except for a half-dozen b*nj*es), I would just note....

For two custom guitars I have, I specifically requested three-piece necks. My opinion, and the luthier did not disagree, was that the lamination actually strengthens the neck. Since it's not something you would ever contemplate taking apart (you'd just replace the neck if needed), I would think gluing it up with epoxy (and microballoons).

Is this dumb?

Mark

**PaulD** · Nov-24-2004, 12:20pm

As a woodworker, but not yet an instrument builder, I would think that epoxy would work, but Titebond or other good wood glue would be sufficient as well assuming the parts are a good fit (properly jointed). I'll temper that with the fact that people talk on this forum about "creep" with some of these glues, but there is quite a bit of edge-grain surface there so structurally it should be fine.

A local repair person believes that the neck will be more stable if the grain orientation for the center lamination is 90 degrees to the two outside laminations. Something like this: ==||== That makes some sense to me, but I don't know how much more stability it really adds if any at all.

Paul Doubek

**Tom C** · Nov-24-2004, 2:24pm

I gots one

**b.pat** · Nov-24-2004, 2:47pm

Me too

**Rob Grant** · Nov-24-2004, 3:00pm

I've been building mandolas and mandolins with three piece necks since the mid ninties. I can't see any problems with them. Some of the positives are strength, beauty and a nice center line to orient to when shaping the neck. You don't need to use epoxy, any of the yellow carpenter's glues will work (including "Titebond") just fine.