Starfire IV neck wood. Maple,Mahogany

GAD

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Maple will have a brighter snappier tone. Mahogany will have a smokier, more subdued tone.

It really depends on the guitar, though. With a Starfire IV that has a maple body I find the mahogany neck to be a perfect balance.
 

BOBBYC

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Gad, thanks. Didn't know about it. I've purchased a Sunburst starfire IV and didn't realise until it was a done deal that it has a mahogany neck with the maple center strip. Instead of the opposite. (Internet). Its what I want, a price I can live with, toward the end of the Westerly run, 1998. Can't wait to get my hands on it.
 

GAD

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Gad, thanks. Didn't know about it. I've purchased a Sunburst starfire IV and didn't realise until it was a done deal that it has a mahogany neck with the maple center strip. Instead of the opposite. (Internet). Its what I want, a price I can live with, toward the end of the Westerly run, 1998. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

Nice. One of my favorite guitars is a 2000 SFIV with a 'hog neck. I daresay they're more popular (or at least more common) in that era with that setup.
 

fronobulax

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Maple will have a brighter snappier tone. Mahogany will have a smokier, more subdued tone.

The question was about the neck, not the body. Is this still your answer? Given the doubt that exists in some minds as to the degree to which the wood in a solid body effects tone, if this is really a claim that the neck wood effects tone then I think we might have another can of worms. :)
 

DThomasC

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Oh boy. When it comes to solid body electrics, I'm completely convinced that the neck contributes more than the body. With hollow and semi-solid archtops the balance is different, but the neck is still a major contributor.

I agree with GAD: a maple neck is snappy and fast. I have an S-300 (all hog), an S-300A (maple neck, ash body), and a bastard S-300 with a hog body and bolt on maple neck. All three are similar vintage with HB-1 pickups. The S-300A is noticeably 'faster' sounding with clear fundamentals compared to the all hog S-300. But here's the rub: the bastard with maple neck and hog body sounds and feels much more like the maple neck S-300S than the hog bodied S-300.

Not looking for a fight, just sharing my observations.
 

adorshki

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The question was about the neck, not the body. Is this still your answer? Given the doubt that exists in some minds as to the degree to which the wood in a solid body effects tone, if this is really a claim that the neck wood effects tone then I think we might have another can of worms. :)
Knowing the source, I was sure he read it correctly and answered accordingly.
Questions about neck material and tone have come up before, note DThomas's response to the question.
Even fretboard material has been cited as having impact on tone particularly in regards to Strats which have offered rosewood fretboards and even solid maple (no fretboard) necks.
Also comes up periodically for acoustic guitars: rosewood vs ebony.
My hypothesis about the physics would have to do with the damping characteristics (both vibration absorption in the neck itself and vibration transfer between differing neck and body woods) of the given woods.
 

GAD

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The question was about the neck, not the body. Is this still your answer? Given the doubt that exists in some minds as to the degree to which the wood in a solid body effects tone, if this is really a claim that the neck wood effects tone then I think we might have another can of worms. :)

Absolutely, and I'll be honest - I didn't believe it for myself until I experienced it first hand. I've owned a lot of Starfires and my favorite combination is a maple body with a mahogony neck. For high gain stuff I prefer the all-maple combination because it adds a sharpness - like DThomasC wrote, a sort of "quickness" to the notes - that reminds me a little of how EMGs respond in a solidbody. High Gain and Starfires aren't really my thing, though. :emmersed:

I tend to light bright sounding solidbody and acoustic guitars but I use the Starfires more for bluesy stuff and the 'hog neck just works for me there. Now, for a deeper-bodied guitar like an X170 or X500 I think the all maple design offsets the depth well. My '94 X170 with HB1s is just an amazing sounding guitar and it's all maple. I don't know that they ever made them with 'hog necks, probably for that reason.
 

fronobulax

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OK. "snappy tone" and "snappy and fast" don't say the same thing to me. I have long known of players who prefer a maple neck but they have always expressed their preference in terms of the way the neck plays or feels to the fretting hand and not the tone.

I'll acknowledge that neck wood has an effect on tone.

Since I missed the previous discussions that were alluded to, here is a hypothetical. I'm only interested in Yes or No answers. I don't need to rehash anything that has been done before.

I have two necks, that are made from identical maple or as close as possible. One is a solid neck, i.e. one piece. The other is a three piece neck, although all pieces as maple.

Do people expect to hear a difference based upon which neck is used in otherwise identical solid body guitars?
Do people expect to feel a difference (with the fretting hand)?
 

Nuuska

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Howdy

I am hobby guitar player and professional sound man and I think that PERHAPS in extremely well controlled scientific test situation there might be a slight change that I perhaps could hear something - If I did not have my tinnitus of constant 2114Hz ringing in my head. So the actual real life answer is a clear NO !

On second question - if back of the neck is nearly as well finished than on my guitars - then a definite NO !
 

GAD

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OK. "snappy tone" and "snappy and fast" don't say the same thing to me. I have long known of players who prefer a maple neck but they have always expressed their preference in terms of the way the neck plays or feels to the fretting hand and not the tone.

I'll acknowledge that neck wood has an effect on tone.

Since I missed the previous discussions that were alluded to, here is a hypothetical. I'm only interested in Yes or No answers. I don't need to rehash anything that has been done before.

I have two necks, that are made from identical maple or as close as possible. One is a solid neck, i.e. one piece. The other is a three piece neck, although all pieces as maple.

Do people expect to hear a difference based upon which neck is used in otherwise identical solid body guitars?
Do people expect to feel a difference (with the fretting hand)?

Would I expect to? No.

Might I? Yes. Because there's no such things as identical pieces of wood.

That's for you demanding a yes/no response. :tongue-new:
 

adorshki

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Would I expect to? No.

Might I? Yes. Because there's no such things as identical pieces of wood.

That's for you demanding a yes/no response. :tongue-new:

I think the fretboard vs no-fretboard thing is much more legitimate question anyway.
Even if Guild never made a model without a fretboard.
(As far as I know)
:devilish:
 

GAD

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I think the fretboard vs no-fretboard thing is much more legitimate question anyway.
Even if Guild never made a model without a fretboard.
(As far as I know)
:devilish:


Guild-X97V-Top-1.jpg
 

adorshki

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Is it a maple cap or all solid one piece?

I believe you mean "cap" in the sense of a discrete fretboard, and it looks to me from that close-up that there's a tell-tale seam of a separate fretboard and it appears to be the right thickness too..
But I'm not sure, it could be a very straight grain line.
The reflected light from the backdrop is washing it out a bit.
 

DThomasC

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I'll acknowledge that neck wood has an effect on tone.

That's magnanimous of you.
Since I missed the previous discussions that were alluded to, here is a hypothetical. I'm only interested in Yes or No answers. I don't need to rehash anything that has been done before.

I make no promises.
I have two necks, that are made from identical maple or as close as possible. One is a solid neck, i.e. one piece. The other is a three piece neck, although all pieces as maple.

Do people expect to hear a difference based upon which neck is used in otherwise identical solid body guitars?
Do people expect to feel a difference (with the fretting hand)?

Let me get one thing out of the way. For me, it's not about feel in the fretting hand, so the answer to the second question is no.

Concerning the first question, remember that I made no promises RE: yes/no. With that in mind I'll turn the question around and present it this way: Suppose we have an amazing neck that happens to be one piece. Now, suppose I go back in time to when it was just a hunk of wood cut from a tree and I rip it down the middle, flip half around, and glue it back together. Then I make a neck out of it just like the first neck. Obviously, this time it's two pieces instead of one, but otherwise the same.

Would people expect that:

a) the neck would still sound exactly the same
b) the awesomeness that the neck had would be completely gone
c) probably the neck wouldn't be changed much, but we can't rule out the possibility that it might change a little bit, maybe imperceptibly, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse.
d) none of the above.

Instead of cutting the piece of wood into two pieces, let's cut it into 17 pieces. No, wait, 1700 pieces!

Never mind. Forget that question and consider this one instead: Suppose I presented you with two neck. They're essentially identical except that one is made from one piece of wood while the other is multiple pieces. The question is this: which neck would you guess is most likely to be awesome?

The truth is, none of us can answer any of those questions with authority because nobody on earth has the necessary experience. All we have is our intuition along with some anecdotes that support our intuition (we never paid attention to the anecdotes that are counter to our intuition.) So don't bother emailing me your answers to my questions. They're just your worthless intuition and I already have my own.

EDIT: one of the most remarkable guitars that I own is a Tele with a one piece neck. Rings like a bell and sustains like a piano.
 
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I believe you mean "cap" in the sense of a discrete fretboard, and it looks to me from that close-up that there's a tell-tale seam of a separate fretboard and it appears to be the right thickness too..
But I'm not sure, it could be a very straight grain line.
The reflected light from the backdrop is washing it out a bit.
Having looked at the pictures from GAD's link, it is definitely a discrete fretboard. The rear views of the neck show that it has not been routed to fit the truss rod, unless there is another way to do this, other than the traditional Fender way.
 

fronobulax

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That's magnanimous of you.
...
Let me get one thing out of the way. For me, it's not about feel in the fretting hand, so the answer to the second question is no.

I'm getting an attitude I don't like but I cannot tell whether that was intended or it is something I am making up as I read. Aren't text only communications wonderful for conveying emotion? Just an observation and a note that perhaps I am not self-moderating as well as I should.

I have never heard a bass player claim they wanted or preferred a maple neck for the tone. I have heard numerous bass players claim they wanted a maple neck for the stability or the way it responds to their fretting hand or because it looks better. So it is pretty clear that my experience with basses does NOT generalize to guitars in this case. That is good to know and somewhat unusual in my experience.

I'm sure I could have asked the question differently. Some people who believe that the body's wood species effects the tone of a solid body also believe the body construction (solid vs. pieced together) makes a difference. But other people don't seem to believe construction technique makes a noticeable difference. So all I am really trying to do is solicit similar opinions about the neck wood species and construction techniques.

I spent several decades firmly believing that the wood species of a solid body guitar did not and could not effect the tone and I have physics and laboratory experience to support that belief. I have recently changed my mind - the physics is not as simple as I believe/assumed and the laboratory is not as close to the Real World as I had hoped. So this entire line of discussion really comes down to "what else might I have been wrong about?"
 

GAD

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I believe you mean "cap" in the sense of a discrete fretboard, and it looks to me from that close-up that there's a tell-tale seam of a separate fretboard and it appears to be the right thickness too..
But I'm not sure, it could be a very straight grain line.
The reflected light from the backdrop is washing it out a bit.


I'd say it's not so much a separate fretboard as the neck being made from two pieces so that the truss rod could be placed without drilling, though that could be semantics I suppose. If I were to call the top the fretboard, then it's probably a half-inch thick. Here's a better pick of what looks like the seam, though I suppose I should be careful lest I rekindle Frono's glued wood discussion. :emmersed:

Guild-X97V-NeckEnd.jpg
 
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