Members MichaelYoung Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Has anyone here used red oak for guitar build? Im thinking about using it for the neck of ny next build. Ill use softer hardwoods for the body. Any advice would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Works great for CBG and costs about the same as the gas for a round trip to Home Depot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 It's heavy and the grain is damn near impossible to fill, but Brian May seems to have done OK with it. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 If you like strapping a cinder block on your shoulder, go for it. Oak si heavy as hell and not all that great to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MahaloVision Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 The Wikipedia entry says that the Red Special's neck is Mahogany, made from a fireplace mantle, with an Oak fingerboard. Even at that, I don't think it was a Red Oak fingerboard, but can't be sure. Red Oak sucks for guitars. Heavy, massively porous, and damping. White Oak is a different story. If you want to try something different, then see if you can find some Honduran Rosewood. Still a bit heavy, but rings like a Marimba bar. Lots of alternatives, including easier things to find including figured Cherry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelYoung Posted January 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Well. Im really wanting to use something cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shoeless Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 For cheap I'd go poplar. It really has quite a nice tone to it. The only drawback is it doesn't finish that well unless you paint it or stain it really heavy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 I understand your desire to go cheap, but I would urge you to reconsider.... you'll be putting a lot of time and effort into it, and in the end, will saving a few bucks on materials be worth it? If you look around, you are sure to find a lot of woods that are better than oak for not a lot of money. Having said that, my very first guitar build was an oak body, and it sounded fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kellanium Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 It's heavy and the grain is damn near impossible to fill, but Brian May seems to have done OK with it. EG This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 common white maple is fairly cheap too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MahaloVision Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 This. Or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Oak will burn up your tools cutting it. I did a Walnut top to a semihollowbody Tele recently. The Wood was over 200 years old and hard as a rock. I burned up two router bits just cutting the pickup routes. {censored} was so hard you would have thoght I had a Bar-B Que going in a hurricane. There was so much smoke pouring out of there I nearly suffocated cutting it. It was worth it though. Its extremely difficult to find a single piece of walnutlike that. It wound up being one of my sweetest sounding guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 If you're wanting cheap, go with poplar or silver maple. I'd take either of those over oak for a guitar. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelYoung Posted January 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Im thinking a poplar and oak laminated neck not sure about the body Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GomezAddams1 Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 Oak likes to split. If you do an oak neck, I'd think making it butcher-block style would be the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelYoung Posted January 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 i was also thinking about doing a maple fingerboard. Im also contemplating a neck thru that goes the length of the body. so i think the general idea is to stay away from oak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricEye Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 What do you mean cheap? How much more expensive is a nice slab of alder or maple? Oak? LOL! That's a good one.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MahaloVision Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 If you're wanting cheap, go with poplar or silver maple. I'd take either of those over oak for a guitar. EG Both are OK for the body. For the neck, I'd recommend not using these unless you're building in some Graphite bar reinforcement. I've made a couple necks with Silver Maple and found them to be both unstable in terms of movement and not very stiff on their own. Eastern or Rock Maple is usually available at practically any hardwoods lumberyard. So is Khaya Mahogany for that matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelYoung Posted January 27, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 27, 2012 so will a poplar neck be stiff enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MahaloVision Posted January 27, 2012 Members Share Posted January 27, 2012 Again, maybe with CF reinforcement, but then again I haven't done it and haven't seen any poplar necks that I can remember. Build one and see what you think. If it doesn't work, then either replace the neck or build another guitar. If that's too much time and expense to do, then build with something you know will work even if it's a bit more expensive. The concept of "false economy" applies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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