How do they stripe the neck?

[MartyGrass]

Here's a maple neck. How do they make the two thin maple pieces that darker color? Are they stained prior to gluing?

[kbp810]

As in the case of my soon to be 5 piece neck, the two thin stripes are mahogany

[Joe]

Here's a maple neck. How do they make the two thin maple pieces that darker color? Are they stained prior to gluing?

Laminated neck.In this case 5 piece.

[MartyGrass]

Mahogany explains it.

 

I've seen other woods mixed in with maple for aesthetics besides mahogany, but not in a Heritage.

 

In one guitar Heritage stains the laminates before glueing- the Little One. They may do it in some others as well.

[skydog52]

Yes all the ones I've seen are mahogany strips.

[kbp810]

Mahogany explains it.

 

I've seen other woods mixed in with maple for aesthetics besides mahogany, but not in a Heritage.

 

In one guitar Heritage stains the laminates before glueing- the Little One. They may do it in some others as well.

Indeed they may!

 

I've seen maple with small ebony strips (or was it mahogany with ebony strips?) - either way it was might good looking!

[TalismanRich]

Here's a maple neck. How do they make the two thin maple pieces that darker color? Are they stained prior to gluing?

 

Here's a nice shot of a few "before" necks. Both a 1 piece and several 5 piece necks with shaping.

 

I would think a 5 piece neck would be somewhat more stable as long as the glue holds up. The cross grains should resist twisting.

[tbonesullivan]

nice! Usually the "stringers" in 5 piece necks are mahogany or walnut. My RG prestige has walnut stringers.

[pegleg32]

I think they are all stained after being put together. The reason they look different is because different woods take the same stain differently.

[tulk1]

 

I would think a 5 piece neck would be somewhat more stable as long as the glue holds up. The cross grains should resist twisting.

 

That glue is going to hold better than the wood without glue, no doubt!

 

The neck on my Stambaugh has bloodwood for the skunk stripe. Very interesting contrast for the maple neck.

[koula901]

I think the Suhr shop uses rosewood for the skunk stripe.

[tbonesullivan]

What does fender use for the skunk stripe? I've always wondered that. It looks vaguely like walnut.

[koula901]

I think the Suhr shop uses rosewood for the skunk stripe.

 

Correction: Suhr uses Pau Ferro for skunk stripe and headstock plug. He used to work in the Fender custom shop. I don't know whether fender uses Pau Ferro or not, for their guitars.

[pressure]

Fender will use what you want for the skunk stripe if you go Custom Shop.

Like a Telecaster with an Ebony fingerboard and matching Ebony skunk stripe.

[Patrick]

Here's a little more definitive info for ya . . . . Gibson, when working out of the K'zoo plant, used mostly ebony, but not 100%. They would sometimes use mahogany if they were out of ebony. They usually stayed away from rose wood due to the cost. They have since changed, for cost cutting reasons . . (imagine that). . . to a fibrous material that isn't even wood. Heritage, most often, uses mahogany and sometimes rose wood, but never ebony . . unless specified buy the buyer . . which will result in an up charge. Aaron Cowles still uses ebony in his 3 piece necks.

 

I'm going to do a little more research to see what Gibson is using on the L5s and Super 400s coming out of the Custom Shop in Nashville.

[TalismanRich]

The skunk stripe on a Fender neck is different from the stripes of a Heritage 3 or 5 piece neck. On a Fender, the truss rod channel is routed out from the back and the strip is put in as a cover afterward. With the Heritage, the layers go the full thickness of the neck up to the fretboard.

 

G&L does their neck differently from Fender. The bi-cut neck actually split the neck down the middle, routed the truss channel and then glued it back together. They changed this in 2008 to cut the top off the neck, rout the channel, then add the fretboard as the cap. This is closer to what Heritage does.