Quartersawn Necks vs. Regular Necks

[Erik]

I currently have one piece maple necks on my strat and tele.  The higher-end strat/tele guitars seem to have quartersawn necks and the manufacturers claim they are more stable.  Does anyone here have experience with them and believe them to be superior?  I don't believe that the 1950s and early 60s strats and teles were quartersawn. 

[zpilot]

Geez. I've had this conversation with several other guitar techs and the general consensus is that slab sawed maple is plenty stable and strong enough for guitar necks as long as there isn't excessive runout of the grain.  If it wasn't it wouldn't have been used for over 60 years.  Quartersawn wood may be stronger but it really isn't necessary.  All of the guitars that I have played with quartersawn necks were higher priced ones that had lighter bodies and premium hardware and pickups so that probably had at least as much to do with the sound as the neck, maybe more.  All of the Fender type guitars I own are slab necks and as long as I avoid major swings of humidity I never have to adjust them.  That includes low-end Mexican and custom order Warmoth necks.

[markT]

I've studied and researched this subject a few times. They also say that a quartersawn neck is a little brighter than a flat sawn neck. I have 2 EJ Strats that have quartersawn necks and they are great. Are they better? Not sure. Most of the necks from the 50's were flat sawn, but there were quartersawn ones thrown in there too~

Here is a good little read..www.upfrontguitars.com/blog/2012/11/flat-sawn-or-quarter-sawn-neck-for-your-gl/

Here is another: www.edroman.com/techarticles/quartersawn.htm

NOW....that we have that out of the way....how about a "roasted" maple neck!

www.musikraft.com/product-info.php?pid603.html

[jesslm02]

Or better yet, roasted quartersawn maple...

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Proboards

[bluzman]

Quartersawn is usually prettier grain.

[Deleted]

The grain in a quartersawn neck should run more or less perpendicular to the fretboard, so in theory should be more rigid and resist warping better than a slab cut neck. But if your trussrod wroks as it should, a slab cut neck is probably fine. Figured necks are notoriously prone to warping and even twisting, which is often fatal.

[Deleted]

I once had a conversation with the head tech at RS Guitar Works about necks. He said they prefer and use flat sawn on all their builds. He's of the opinion that flat sawn feels better than quarter sawn which he says feels stiff. He described flat sawn as having a broken in more comfortable feel to them. It was an interesting conversation. It was an interesting point of view.
On the other end of the spectrum there are a lot of guitar builders who boast necks on their guitars made from quarter sawn wood.
I have not had the opportunity to compare similar necks made from the two different cuts. That would fun.

[zpilot]

Nov 11, 2013 21:16:34 GMT -7 @fleabiscuit said:

The grain in a quartersawn neck should run more or less perpendicular to the fretboard, so in theory should be more rigid and resist warping better than a slab cut neck. But if your trussrod wroks as it should, a slab cut neck is probably fine. Figured necks are notoriously prone to warping and even twisting, which is often fatal.

All I can go on is my personal experience.  I have a heavily figured birds-eye maple neck I bought from Warmoth in 1991 and a nicely figured flame one, also from Warmoth that I've had for about three years and they are both as stable as anything I've ever seen.  I always seal my necks really well so maybe that has something to do with it. 

[Deleted]

Yeah, me too--I've got a '56 NOS Strat with a flame maple neck and it's a little more susceptible to humidity change than my non-figured NOS, but not radically so. But you hear the horror stories, man.

[zpilot]

Nov 12, 2013 7:43:18 GMT -7 @fleabiscuit said:

Yeah, me too--I've got a '56 NOS Strat with a flame maple neck and it's a little more susceptible to humidity change than my non-figured NOS, but not radically so. But you hear the horror stories, man.

Just curious.  Are the dimensions the same on both necks?  My figured necks are actually about .030" to .060" thinner, front to back, than my other necks.      

[Deleted]

Identical dimensions, yeah.