Neck wood combo

[LEOKV2]

Ok, say you have this constant equation:

Mahogany body with a 1/8 quilted maple top, neck through guitar, 3 piece neck.

The "variable" here is the neck's wood. What will happen to the tone, balance, overall experience if....

a) the neck is 3 piece maple
b) the neck is 3 piece mahogany
c) 2 pieces of maple and one center stripe of mahogany

[Bengal65]

a) the neck is 3 piece maple
"Brighter" Tone. Why the 3 piece? A 1 piece quartersawn neck will be just as strong and less expensive to make.

b) the neck is 3 piece mahogany
"Less Bright" Tone (much warmer) Will be stronger than a 1 piece neck.

c) 2 pieces of maple and one center stripe of mahogany
Not much of a tone difference you can hear from the other two, but a slightly "stiffer" neck

What's your proposed fretboard wood?

[LEOKV2]

That'd be ebony.

Actually, since it's for my custom made Jackson I was looking for something that would look nice with the translucent color at the back, like, you could see the woods and all (I was going for a 5 piece neck but it's too expensive and now with the price increase... it's nuts!) and also the right tone.

I thought that maybe maple with the center stipe of mahogany would give a nice look and also a balanced tone between bright and warm, like from the other two options. Altough I dunno if the 1/8 maple top and maple neck would be "too" bright, I mean, I don't know how much will that top affect the mahogany.

[kelly user]

1/8 maple top won't really effect the tone much , if it was a les paul with half an inch of maple " a maple cap" then you'd be able to hear the difference, if you worried about bright a maple neck with a ebony board is the wrong way to go.

if you want a balanced tone with with both the good of both worlds( warm and punchy)........... well thats like wanting the pefect pie crust, tender and flaky............ its just not going to happen.

since its a neck through guitar most of the resonating will come of the neck piece and fret board hence Ebony+ Maple= SUN!!!!!

now my best bet for that good sound, would be a mohagany neck with a ebony board and a thicker cap on the mohangany body

But like i said thats just a guess...... some one correct me if i am wrong........

[LEOKV2]

humm let's say the thicker cap ain't happening, it's too expensive.

So basically... If I have a maple neck through a mahogany body with a maple top... will that "kill" the mahogany's warmth (making it sound like a regular alder/maple USA Jackson) ?

I've seen BC Richs and Jacksons (like the SL MAH) that have a mahogany body, maple top and a maple neckthrough, I wonder how those sound compared to a Les Paul type guitar.

What I'm looking for in my custom King V is to have the punchy tone I used to have with my Gibson Flying V EMG loaded, I think the mahogany gave it a great low end and general warmth and punchyness, but, the greater sustain and punch of a neck-through guitar. BUT, I not so sure about having a mahogany neck now that I have the option of having a maple neck. And I'm doubtful about it since I've seen neck through guitars that have the mahogany body maple neck combo a lot, meaning, maybe it's a standard or something?

[kelly user]

maple top won't do much, but like i said most of the tone comes through the neck

[kelly user]

you won't be able to get the blend of sounds but i forgot to factor in the pick ups apperently EMGs so most of this wont really matter........... if you get a bright wood combo, well then get darker sounding pick ups. experment with it