ayous (thermo) neck

[Michiel Wildenberg]

Hi all,

I wonder if ayous/obeche, laminated with a carbon strip (6mm) in the middle would be suitable for a guitar neck. I know it can be used as a body wood (I believe PRS even use it in some customshop builds). I know it's soft and light but would it be strong enough paired with the carbon and a rosewood or ebony fretboard on top?

Anyone have experience or a strong opinion?

Thanks in advance!

[Jarno Verhoeven]

No strong opinions nor experience, but I have recently been watching Ken Parkers "Archtoppery" videos on youtube, and he uses spruce as the neck wood. With much more carbon than one or two strips though
My Vigier Passion neck has no trussrod and two relatively broad sections of reinforced resin, all the way through the neck, not sure which neck wood was used (probably can be found on their site though), but it looks and feels like a hardwood like maple. They probably made this by routing deep grooves in the unshaped neck block and filling that up, and then shape using a rotating tool (I wonder how pleasant carbon is to shape using something like rasps, probably not very).

[Barry Daniels]

Carbon fiber is a LOT harder than any type of wood so it is near impossible to level and sand it to be level with adjacent wood surfaces so it is highly advised to bury it inside the wood and not have it exposed on a finished surface.