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Laminate neck alignment question


Sambrook
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I am edging towards my first scratch build, and would appreciate some advice. I am planning a 3 piece laminate bolt-on neck of cherry. I've noticed a lot of laminate necks have the centre 'stripe' aligned horizontally instead of vertically like it's neighbours.
Is this for structural reasons, or just cosmetic? Your help gratefully anticipated...

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Do you mean that the wood grain of the laminates is aligned differently? It is probably to help stiffen the neck and to reduce warping. It is quite common to reverse the grain of the laminate sections

Edit: if for instance you plan to laminate three strips of cherry you might want to rotate the middle section.

I am planning a laminated through neck on my next build, so I would also welcome further comments from builders that have already done it

Edited by Norris
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Yes. I think the idea is to counteract any tendency for the wood to bow. By reversing alternate laminations it balances out. However I'm not sure how you would arrange them if using more than one type of wood e.g. maple & walnut. Would you just reverse every other maple strip?

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You want balance in a laminated neck so something like this[b] /l\ [/b]if a three piece,[b] \l/[/b] would also be fine. This is a rough illustration of the end grain when viewed from the heel of the neck blank or headstock end. This principle is basically the same for 5 piece necks too as the thinner laminates shouldn't cause any problems.

The idea is to get as close to 1/4 sawn as possible (which would be vertical grain direction: [b]l[/b]) and to counteract movement within the pieces. So you want your central lam to be a close to vertical as possible and the outer ones mirrored.

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