Which Wood for Replacement Neck?

[specracer986]

I have a JTV69 that I want to replace the neck on. It's a little too chunky, the frets a little too high and I really prefer SS frets.

I had a Warmouth roasted maple neck made for a Strat a couple of years ago and it's a beautiful neck. So I'll probably do a Warmouth build again. I'll be getting 6150 stainless steel frets, Earvana nut, compound radius with either their Wizard or Slim profile.

My biggest question is which wood to use for the back and fretboard.

I'm considering doing Rosewood back with Ebony fretboard. This would kind of be the opposite tone wise of what I have now, maple back and rosewood fretboard, but possibly give me a similar result.

Another option is a Mahogany back with Ebony FB.

Or, should I just play it safe and do the Maple back Rosewood FB? I could be happy with that, but I'm thinking of trying something different.

And a related question I saw discussed on another thread, should I order without mounting holes drilled?

[vmoncebaiz]

There is a lot of preference involved there.  Generally I love rosewood necks with ebony boards.  They work really well on my mahogany bodied guitars as they seem to have less mid range and that complements the massive low-mid range of mahogany.  The ebony adds a nice articulation to the attack.  

 

The alder body JTV-69 will be fairly balanced to bright sounding to start. So you can try to complement that with the warmer mid range emphasis of the mahogany neck. Or you can slightly enhance the bass and top end with the rosewood neck and leave your mid range more open.  (ebony and rosewood with an alder body might get a little too crisp in the highs for my tastes, but its whatever floats boats)

 

I've had people tell me that wood type makes no difference at all, and I've spent plenty of time arguing against that idea.  But I do try to keep in mind that the neck and fingerboard have less overall tonal impact than the body wood.  And in turn, the woods all have much less overall impact than your pickups.  

 

I believe the mounting holes are different, so you would be better off without pre-drilled mounting holes (you should double check other threads here if someone doesn't respond definitively)

 

Happy hunting

[cruisinon2]

I have a JTV69 that I want to replace the neck on. It's a little too chunky, the frets a little too high and I really prefer SS frets.

I had a Warmouth roasted maple neck made for a Strat a couple of years ago and it's a beautiful neck. So I'll probably do a Warmouth build again. I'll be getting 6150 stainless steel frets, Earvana nut, compound radius with either their Wizard or Slim profile.

My biggest question is which wood to use for the back and fretboard.

I'm considering doing Rosewood back with Ebony fretboard. This would kind of be the opposite tone wise of what I have now, maple back and rosewood fretboard, but possibly give me a similar result.

Another option is a Mahogany back with Ebony FB.

Or, should I just play it safe and do the Maple back Rosewood FB? I could be happy with that, but I'm thinking of trying something different.

And a related question I saw discussed on another thread, should I order without mounting holes drilled?

It's all personal preference, like everything else.

 

Wood...entirely subjective. I'd argue that most players who think they know what a given wood sounds like, when blindfolded wouldn't be able to tell the difference between maple and one of those graphite (or whatever the hell it is) boards on a Parker Fly. But that's another discussion altogether.

 

As far as I'm concerned, what a neck feels like it's what matters...high gloss finish, satin finish, oil finish...or no finish at all (roasted maple doesn't require one), you like what you like. Same with the fret size.

 

Of course it doesn't hurt if it's pretty to look at too...

 

The holes...if they're building it from scratch, may as well tell them not to drill it. But, Warmoth always had tons of stuff in stock, sometimes costing considerably less than a new build. Take a look at what they've got. Even if the holes are already drilled, at least 2 are gonna line up, possibly 3...don't remember anymore, as I chickened out and had I guy who's work I trust put it on for me. ;)

 

This thread has some pics of one of my Warmoth necks...not on the JTV, but it's my favorite. Walnut with birdseye maple board, flamed maple skunk stripe down the back. Grabbed it as soon as I saw it...

 

http://line6.com/support/topic/16538-project-guitar/?hl=project+guitar

[Englishman]

I am in the camp that says it makes zero difference what the neck and fretboard is made of regarding the sound of the guitar... especially a modeler.

 

However, a rosewood neck would be fairly heavy, nothing worse than a neck-diving guitar.

[cruisinon2]

I am in the camp that says it makes zero difference what the neck and fretboard is made of regarding the sound of the guitar... especially a modeler.

 

However, a rosewood neck would be fairly heavy, nothing worse than a neck-diving guitar.

That's a good point...no matter what the instrument itself sounds like, we're taking the signal and smearing 1's and 0's all over it, and trying to make it sound like something it's not anyway.

[specracer986]

Well, the weight of the different woods would be something to think about. I definitely don't want a neck heavy guitar. Warmouth doesn't mention which woods are heavier, and I didn't know Rosewood was heavy since it seems somewhat porous compared to maple or ebony. I guess I'll have to look into that more.

Walnut and maple is quite a combination. I probably never would have thought of that one. Nice looking guitar.

[specracer986]

I have two Strats, one with maple/maple and one maple/rosewood. I've decided to go with a Warmouth mahogany replacement neck for my JTV69. My two choices for fret boards are Pao Ferro and Kingwood. According to Warmouth, Pao Ferro is a little less bright than ebony, and Kingwood a little less bright than Pao Ferro. I guess I'll put those names on my dart board and scientifically pick one.

[specracer986]

I put in my order to Warmouth. Now only 5 weeks of waiting. Piece of cake! :)

I went with:

Mahogany neck, Bubinga fret board, 10"-16" compound radius, slim taper profile, 6150 SS fret wire, 1 11/16" black Earvana Tusq nut, Schaller mini locking tuners, pearl dot inlays, no mounting holes. It bugs me a little that they charge $15 extra to not drill the mounting holes, but I'll get over it.

[cruisinon2]

I put in my order to Warmouth. Now only 5 weeks of waiting. Piece of cake! :)

I went with:

Mahogany neck, Bubinga fret board, 10"-16" compound radius, slim taper profile, 6150 SS fret wire, 1 11/16" black Earvana Tusq nut, Schaller mini locking tuners, pearl dot inlays, no mounting holes. It bugs me a little that they charge $15 extra to not drill the mounting holes, but I'll get over it.

Lol...jeez, an up-charge for doing less work? That takes balls. I'm normally a Warmoth cheerleader, but that's just ridiculous.

 

It will be a nice neck regardless...stainless frets are the best thing since indoor toilets.