gearhead Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 I've owned a bunch of guitars over the years, mostly Gibsons, and several of them have had 3 piece maple or mahogany necks. My '78 melody Maker has a 3 pc neck with an actual one pc body. To my thinking the 3 pc necks should be stronger because when you put the pieces together with the grain going different directions it IS stronger. They make really tough flooring material for trucks I work on out of laminated wood like that. So what do all of you think, stronger? And how does it affect the tone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teegar Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 I was watching Bob Bennedetto's video on construction of archtop guitars. His considered opinion on the matter was that the great advantage of laminated necks was that you could use the wood more efficiently - more necks out of fewer board-feet. He did not think they were necessarily any stronger, and stated unflinchingly that a laminated neck is just as likely to warp as a solid one. He said he preferred kiln-dried wood to air-dried. One aspect of "stronger" could be the headstock angle, if a solid piece you likely get short grain at the neck/headstock bend, which could be sturdier with a laminated neck. William Cumpiano, authoritative luthier, says tonal differences are mainly due to materials - mahogany vs. maple. Maple is stiffer, brighter, heavier, perhaps more sustain, mahogany warmer, perhaps vibrating more, which can add to the tone. That's the opinion of those luminaries, which I'll not challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 I've owned a bunch of guitars over the years' date=' mostly Gibsons, and several of them have had 3 piece maple or mahogany necks. My '78 melody Maker has a 3 pc neck with an actual one pc body. To my thinking the 3 pc necks should be stronger because when you put the pieces together with the grain going different directions it IS stronger. They make really tough flooring material for trucks I work on out of laminated wood like that. So what do all of you think, stronger? And how does it affect the tone?[/quote'] Do you have an image of your 78 MM???? I'm looking for a Norlin one and cant seem to locate one anywhere[crying] .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenrirlupus Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 It does mostly depend on the materials, and though there shouldn't be much difference... glue IS stronger than wood... (but in a laminate neck, the glue is running parallel to the neck, whereas if you break of your headstock and glue it back on that's perpendicular to the neck... it's not likely that you'd break off a headstock again after it's glued on once...) and as for tone... glue covering an entire neck pocket (set neck) or on either side of a neck thru (to glue on the "wings") will sap out some of the higher order harmonics and make the guitar less twang-y or fender-ish... i don't think that effect would even be noticeable in a laminate neck, however... your neck mounting method is going to make much more difference than wether or not you use a laminate neck... even your fretboard material should make more difference... so i wouldn't be afraid of going for laminate tone-wise... as for strength... you've still got 3 big chunks of wood, none of which are invincible... and a little bit of glue between them... That doesn't sound like it's going to drastically effect the strength, at least considering where gibson necks are prone to breakage... the headstock and near the heel, perpendicular to the neck... I doubt a laminate neck would be able to prevent breakage in those spots... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Do you have an image of your 78 MM???? I'm looking for a Norlin one and cant seem to locate one anywhere[crying] .... Is this what you're looking for??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Is this what you're looking for??? yeppers...... is it for sale??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 yeppers...... is it for sale??? You'd have to ask the guy I sold it to!!! I have a couple more pics if you like' date=' headstock, back of neck. I think it was a KZII if I remember. Typical Norlin, 3 piece neck, volute, I'm pretty sure it had Dirty Fingers pickups on it. It was a really nice player, monster tone, probably where I got my love for a Dirty Fingers bridge pickup. [img']http://home.earthlink.net/~jkmcleer/Guitars/kzIIhead.jpg[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 [angry] [angry] damn JM and his guitars! Wheres my Trini!?!?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Since my search has been in vain, I'll probably go with the Joan Jett model for my little project 1983 Gibson Kahler install 82 Tim Shaw pup in the bridge 72 embossed single coil in the neck It should keep me going until my BH LP arrives in March Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearhead Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 Do you have an image of your 78 MM???? I'm looking for a Norlin one and cant seem to locate one anywhere[crying] .... Here's a link to some photos of my '78 Melody Maker: 1978 Gibson MMD Here's a link to one on ebay a '77 model: 1977 Gibson Melody Maker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.