jessejames Posted September 3, 2016 Report Share Posted September 3, 2016 Another couple of new builds coming up. BOTH are made of a SOLID PIECE of figured maple, no tops, no backing woods, nothing. One will be multiscale according to my custom scale length, the other will be regular scale of my design. Necks and fretboards will be made from this SWEET piece of Spalted maple. Both will be carved tops as well. Way cool I think!What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 3, 2016 Report Share Posted September 3, 2016 Beautiful pieces of timber, but I'd be seriously concerned about using spalted wood for necks and fretboards, as spalted is another word for decaying. You, of course have been doing this long enough to know that, so obviously there is some plan to account for that . Care to share? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted September 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2016 My plan......granted this is my plan. Is to put carbon rods to reinforce, as well as soak the neck in CA glue or an epoxy. Spalted maple is use for tops and those have string pressure pulling on them too. So, yeah it might be a massive failure, but it might be a massive success too. I mean look at spalted top acoustics, they have string pressure in the bridge area with just a bookmatched piece of thin spalt for the top. So I can't see it being THAT structurally unsound. I thought spalted meant it had a fungal infection and was rotting, but you eliminate the fungii and it should cease that. correct? Maybe explore that avenue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitaraxz Posted September 3, 2016 Report Share Posted September 3, 2016 Damn, those are nice looking peices of Maple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted September 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2016 Well I was cutting the spalted board down and processed it into 2 neck blanks and 4 fretboard blanks. Fretboards seem like no problem. Just soak them in CA (Avoid the fumes) and should be good to go. This is where it gets to the point. The 2 neck blanks, they just didnt FEEL tough enough to me. So I got one and did my stand test on it, Which is what I do with ALL my neck blanks, stand on them and if they survive my weight they pass. Never had a single board break. Until today. So now I have 10 fretboard blanks and some cavity covers and headplates lol. I have some nice curly katalox I will be using for the necks, this spalt is NOT going to work. I was having hopes and dreams I got a good enough piece, but no, just no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted September 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Forgive the color on the bodies, I am just bullshitting around seeing if I want to stain then, but I think I will just leave them natural. So, I have decided on using a natural body, spalted fretboard, and a katalox neck. The board I had of katalox has some nice ribbon to it and some flame, but man was it heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 11, 2016 Report Share Posted September 11, 2016 I'd never used spalted wood on anything that requires strength and stiffness. Reinforcement doesn't add back in the strength that the material loses. The only way to "recover" the strength is by infusing the wood, such as acrylising it. Larry at Gallery Hardwoods has been doing that since ProjectGuitar.com was still young....unsure whether it would penetrate pieces as thick as a neck blank though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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