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Curly Maple
Maple has, without any doubt, the best density-rigidity relationship and is one of the most used for building acoustic guitars, specially necks. This wood reflects sound due to its good sustain.
Besides, is a very resistant wood that holds tension very well in the neck. That’s why Curly Maple is a great option for making acoustic guitar necks.
BOTANICAL NAME: Acer pseudoplatanus
ORIGIN: Central and East Europe
DESCRIPTION: 610 – 680 kg/m3 density white wood. The colour of this wood is white or light yellow, although the sapwood is no different from the heartwood. The rays are visible and appear as very thin and decorative lines. The grain changes from straightness to waving. It’s also thin. The curl is very appreciated for its aesthetics.
SUGGESTIONS: The machining can show some problems because of the intertwined grains. Tools usually become blunt. It has good qualities to bend against vapour. Both gluing and finishing don’t present any problem. This wood resists against fungus and sensitive to termites. It stains easily, it’s recommended not to keep it in humid places.
DRYING: It’s recommended to dry it in low temperature chambers in order to avoid colour alterations and stains. If you make drying fast, the wood will keep its white colour tone.
USES: Is a very versatile and required wood, so apart from being used for Archtop Guitar necks, it’s also used for Acoustic and Classic Guitar sounding boards, also for Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass Backs, Sides and Necks, and Electric Guitar and Bass Bodies and Necks.
Birdseye Maple
BOTANIC NAME: Acer saccharum marsh.
COMMON NAMES: Birdseye maple.
ORIGIN: North America.
DESCRIPTION: Density 630-700 kg/m3. Cream white to reddish brown colour. Figured with many small swirls resulting in circular eyes separate from each other - dubbed birds eye figure. It is not known what causes de phenomenon. The wood may be extremely valuable.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Sawing and machinery are difficult. It is hard to plane. Suitable for steam bending. Easy gluing and finishing.
DRYING: It is a wood that dries very fast. Hardly any defects on the drying process.
USES: Electric guitar bodies and bass guitar bodies. Guitar backs and sides.
Mahogany (CITES)
Mahogany has a uniform density which means a stable and solid neck. The open grains of this wood make work easier.
Regarding the sound, it somehow absorbs the chords vibration, affecting the attack and the high notes and offering warm tones that tend into low and halftones.
On the other side, Mahogany wood doesn’t bright for its appearance: uniform colour without remarkable patterns or figures. However, Mahogany quality remains in its ability to balance the distribution between the instrument weights and give a neutral and correct sound. Choose Mahogany wood for your acoustic guitar neck if you’re searching for security and balance.
BOTANICAL NAME: Swietenia macrophylla.
COMMERCIAL NAMES: Mahogany, American Mahogany.
ORIGIN: Brasil
DESCRIPTION:490-530 kg/m3 density reddish brown wood. The sapwood colour is whitish or yellowish white and pink in the heartwood, but it gets reddish brown in time too. It frequently has very attractive grains. This is also straight, but slightly intertwined sometimes and its size goes form medium to thin.
SUGGESTIONS: Machining is usually very easy, except in figured areas. Gluing and finishing are good. Direct contact can cause skin irritations.
DRYING: Drying speed is fast with little deformation and crack risks.
USES: This is a very versatile and demanded wood, so it’s used in Body tops and Electric Guitar and Bass bodies, purflings, heels, sounding boards and necks.
Honduras Cedar (CITES)
Honduras Cedar is a very stable and durable wood, perfect qualities for making acoustic guitar necks.
When we make Honduras Cedar it’s important to have in mind that the wood isn’t dry and that, as straight as the grain is and the least knots it has, the better stability the final neck will have. Regarding the sound, Cedar can provide a clean one and a good tone reflection.
BOTANICAL NAME: Cedrela odorata
ORIGIN: Brasil
DESCRIPTION: 450-600 kg/m3 density brown colored wood. The heartwood goes from pale pink brown to dark reddish brown that gets darker at light, the sapwood has a lighter colour. The grain is straight or slightly intertwined and has a medium size. This wood has a distinctive smell. The Honduras Cedar dust can cause irritations in the throat and mucosa.
SUGGESTIONS: Saw is easy, but the resin can stick on these saws. The machining presents no problems and glues well, but again the resin can need a previous treatment for the surface. Finishing is necessary to make a previous treatment with the grain filler.
DRYING: Drying speed is fast, but it has to be done at low temperatures to avoid collapse.
USES: Mainly used for Necks, Heels, Electric Guitar and Bass Bodies and Reinforcements.
White Limba
BOTANICAL NAME: Terminalia superba.
TRADE NAMES: Korina, Afara.
ORIGIN: Central and West Africa.
DESCRIPTION: Density of 550/600 kg/m3. The wood color is white slightly pearly cream, which darkens when exposed to light. You may have yellowish areas with blackish streaks. Growth rings are often visible. The fiber can be straight or slightly interlaced. The grain is medium.
RECOMMENDATIONS: It is sensitive to termites and fungi.
DRYING: The drying rate may vary from fast to normal. It hardly presents risks.
USES: Besides being used in Backs and Sides for Acoustic Guitar and Classic Guitar, it is also used in Necks and Bodies for Electric Guitars.
Padouk
Padouk is suitable for making acoustic guitar necks, both for its stability and timber. This wood has a bigger rigidity in the neck area. Its work facilities make it very similar to Padouk, but with a less porous surface and a narrower grain.
Regarding sound, Padouk stands out because it produces a clear and clean sound. However, one of its strengths is the appearance. This reddish wood will make you guitar a different and special without losing quality sound.
Get your Padouk neck for acoustic guitar and find an attractive instrument with a unique sound quality.
BOTANICAL NAME: Pterocarpues Tinctorius
COMMERCIAL NAMES: Padouk, Camwood
ORIGIN: Gabon
DESCRIPTION: 825 Kg/m3 density Reddish Wood. The sapwood is whitish and the hartwood is red. The grain can be both straight or a bit intertwined, it’s also thick and rough.
SUGGESTIONS: Padouk is easy to work with and presents no difficulties for hand work. It’s important to apply grain fillers before using finishing products.
DRYING: Drying speed goes from regular to fast,it barely has deformation risks during the process.
USES: Usually for xylophones and Guitar sounding boards.
Santos Rosewood
Santos Rosewood is a very dense, hard, compact and, most of all, long lasting wood. About its appearance, this tonewood has a great beauty thanks to its different color tonalities which goes from very dark brown to purple and yellow. And the results are incredible contrasts of colors.
Its acoustic properties are very similar to Indian Rosewood, but Santos Rosewood has a warmer and a more brilliant sound. Santos Rosewood also has a percussive touch and a high sustain: the perfect combination between Ebony and Indian Rosewood.
BOTANIC NAME: Machaerium scleroxylon.
COMMON NAMES: Pau Ferro, Morado, Bolivian Rosewood, Santos Rosewood.
ORIGIN: Brazil.
DESCRIPTION: Density 940 kg/m3. Colour can be highly varied, ranging from reddish/orange to a dark violet/brown, usually with contrasting darker black streaks. Narrow sapwood is a pale yellow and is clearly demarcated from the heartwood. Grain is typically straight, though sometimes slightly irregular or interlocked. Fine, even texture and a naturally high luster.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Pau Ferro is considered overall to be of fair workability, as it can blunt the cutting edges of tools, and any irregular grain has a tendency to tear out during machining operations. Also, many of the same challenges in gluing rosewoods are common to Pau Ferro as well. Pau Ferro turns and finishes well. Can cause eye and skin irritation.
DRYING: Dries slowly. No risk of deformation but it can crack.
USES: Guitar tops, backs, fingerboards , headplates and bridges. Wind instruments.
African Mahogany
African Mahogany Wood has a lot of similarities with Mahogany wood, so it’s best for making necks. Due to Mahogany restrictions, African Mahogany is becoming a direct rival. Their differences are that African Mahogany is darker and easier to work with, besides form being cheaper.
Without doubt, this acoustic guitar is one of the best options in market for this part of the instrument because, as well as Mahogany wood, it has a uniform density and a warm tone. Find out the efficiency of these Maderas Barber’s African Mahogany necks for acoustic guitar, they won’t let you down.
BOTANICAL NAME: Khaya ivorensis
ORIGIN: Cameroon
DESCRIPTION:490-530 kg/m3 density light colored wood. The sapwood colour is cream white and the heartwood colour is pale pink or pale red, getting dark into a more dark brown colour with a golden brightness. The grain is usually straight and medium sized.
SUGGESTIONS: Drying speed is fast. There are deformation and cracking risks; those risks become bigger in tension woods or with a very intertwined grain.
USES: This is a very versatile wood, apart from necks and heels, it’s also used for sounding boards, purflings and electric guitar and bass bodies.
Sycamore
Sycamore belongs to Maples family and sheres lots of similarities regarding this acoustic wood sound properties.
Sycamore offers an ideal density-rigidity relationship to make acoustic guitar necks and presents a great homogeneity in the grain and its aesthetics. Therefore, is stable and strong, which turns out into a solid neck.
Check the quality and efficiency of Sycamore with these Maderas Barber’s acoustic guitar necks.
BOTANICAL NAME: acer pseudoplatanus
ORIGIN: Central Europe and West Asia
DESCRIPTION: 640 Kg/m3 density. The colour of this wood is white or light yellow. The sapwood is the same as the heartwood. The grain can be straight or uneven, usually thin.
SUGGESTIONS: Machining might presents some problems due to the intertwined grain, it’s recommended to change the blade angle to 15º. Low temperatures chambers are recommended during drying process.
DRYING: It dries well in the air, but colour alterations and stains might appear. It is important to dry it fast so the wood keeps its white colour.
USES: Besides fingerboards, it’s also used for sounding boards and guitar sides.
Indian Rosewood
BOTANICAL NAME: Dalbergia latifolia.
COMMERCIAL NAMES:Palo Santo de India, Palisandro de India, Palisandro rosa índico.
ORIGIN: India
DESCRIPTION: 870-900kg/m3 density wood with brown, pink or violet tonalities. Its whiteness color is light yellowish white and the heartwood color goes from violet dark pink to purple brown, it gets darker when drying. It has dark violet grains. Grain is also waved and thick.
SUGGESTIONS: Saw and machining are complicated due to its waved grain and the presence of scale deposits.
DRYING: Drying time is slow, nearly without breaking risks, but maybe some cuts. The color of the wood improves with time.
USES: It has many of them, apart from being used for Fingerboards, it’s also used for sounding boxes, bridges, headplates and some pieces of Hurdy-Gurdy.
Wengue
BOTANICAL NAME: Millettia laurentii.
COMMERCIAL NAMES: African rosewood, faux ebony, dikela, mibotu, bokonge, and awong.
ORIGIN: Central Africa.
DESCRIPTION: Its density is 830 Kg/m3. The sapwood color is whitish or light yellow and the heartwood color varies from dark brown to violet black with fine grains. It has a straight fiber and a thick grain.
SUGGESTIONS: It is recommended to use high power equipment for sawing, tools are dull very quickly. Gluing is delicate due to the presence of resin cells.
DRYING: it has a slow drying speed and it presents slight deformation risks
USES: It is a very versatile wood, since it can be used to make fingerboards, bridges, electric guitar bodies, headplates and soundboards.
Purple Heart
BOTANICAL NAME: Peltogyne pubelcens
COMMERCIAL NAMES:
ORIGIN: Central America
DESCRIPTION: Sapwood color goes from pale pink to white, heartwood color turns into a stronger violet on contact with air.
SUGGESTIONS: The Wood tends to get dark on contact with air, saw is easy, but requires big powerful equipments. Saws become blunt quickly.
DRYING: It can change from slow to regular speed, with some risks of deformations