Ibanez Wizard multiple peice necks

[mikey5]

Hey guys I was just voting for my favorite Gilbert model on Ibanez.com and I noticed that a lot of the guitars they have there boast a 5 pc wizard neck. Wow that impressed me seeing as I have only heard of 3 pc mahogany necks or whatever. How do they make necks like that do they glue the wood peices together horizontally (parallel to fretboard) or vertically??

[WezV]

perpendicular to the fretboard, this is mine, not ibanez but its the same idea



i laminate about 80% of my necks for strength and stability... its a very good idea with a skinny ibanez style neck - or for any neck for that matter

[Jonny]

It's usually bubinga laminates.

[WezV]

i would call that a 3 piece, at least when i do it that way.

 the veneers are just there for the look really, they dont change the sound in a noticeable way and they dont change the strength/stability

this ones maple with wenge veneer

[yellowv]

Even though the bubinga or wenge veneers in the 5pc necks are very thin the joint is what adds the strength. Proper glue joints are stronger than the wood itself. The Ibanez 5pc neck are MUCH stronger than their old 1pc counterparts. I have that neck on my rg2610 and it is superb, although the Gilberts are a bit thicker.

[WezV]

I am not sure thats completely true.  Yes wood glue is stronger than wood itself but simply adding joins does not increase the strength of a neck.  a 3 piece without veneer is just as strong as a 3 piece with veneer

The process of laminating allows you to even out the tensions  in the pieces of wood.  this makes the necks more stable because they effectively keep each other straight.  here is some wood i just got for a neck through - not square but you get the idea of how it will be glued together


i know its not perfectly clear but the grain line in the 5 peices go like this \ / | \ /.   thats how i like it on a 5 piece.  This is better than a 1 piece because if  a 1 piece neck is not perfectly quarter or flat sawn its natural response will be to twist - a neck like the one i show doesnt have that option!!

also i include dual carbon fibre rods in most of my necks and in theory thats enough to be able to get a 1-piece neck to be wizard skinny

[yellowv]

I wasn't saying it was neccesarily any stronger than a 3 piece, just sronger than a single piece. Looks cooler too ;) Yes your design is definately stronger than the veneers, no doubt.

[Philly Q]

The process of laminating allows you to even out the tensions  in the pieces of wood.  this makes the necks more stable because they effectively keep each other straight. 

Does it also help to avoid dead spots, or do they occur anyway?

[mikey5]

Wow so all of those necks run perpendicular or vertical to the fretboard. good to know. SO does one glue them all together first and then cut them into a neck shape??

[WezV]

Does it also help to avoid dead spots, or do they occur anyway?

depends on the wood and laminate choices, i certainly wouldnt expect any dead spots on those 5 piece necks... although the 3 piece doesnt do much to prevent it

dont forget i also use CF bars in my necks and that definately reduces deadspots

SO does one glue them all together first and then cut them into a neck shape??

yeah, glued up into a rectangular blank and then treated just the same as you would a single piece of wood.  Some clever folks actually taper the laminates first so they get narrower near the nut but personally i like the parallel lines look too much to worry about that

other than strength advantages its also less wastefull  and opens up your choices for suitable material

[broken cord]

That 5 piece neck looks the bomb!

[FELINEGUITARS]

I almost always use a 3 piece neck on my customs.
It makes for a much more stable neck and it allows me to orientate the grain to be quartersawn
I tend to find that it makes for a stiffer neck which in turn is sonically better - seems to have a faster response to transient notes

[jpfamps]

I almost always use a 3 piece neck on my customs.
It makes for a much more stable neck and it allows me to orientate the grain to be quartersawn
I tend to find that it makes for a stiffer neck which in turn is sonically better - seems to have a faster response to transient notes

That's what theory would imply — the stiffer the neck the less energy it absorbs.

Mind you it would have to be a very "slow" neck to hamper my playing!!

[Bob Johnson]

Three piece, five piece whatever. If you're manufacturing hundreds of guitars a shift it allows you to use sizes of timber that maximise how many necks you're gonna get out of every cubic foot of timber you buy and make a neck from timber that would possibly distort if the the neck were in one piece of it. That's why the big manufacturers took up that option; not to give you guys a better neck. For instance, despite the propaganda from some of them, a scarf joint between the second fret and the nut is not going to help your tone one little bit.

Having said that; intelligently mixing materials in the neck can let you really nail the tone you are looking for and give you something that is extremely stable. I really like using complex composite neck structures and have used it to great advantage on a number of guitars, some of which are owned by contributors to this forum. It makes it possible to combine the attributes if different types of tonewoods in one structure.

So I guess if you're looking at a composite neck you have to consider A) what is it made of and B) are the joints there to give a better tonal response or to utilize scr@p pieces of timber