Maple Acoustic's With Non Maple Necks??

[denny1948golf]

I can't remember seeing a maple acoustic that didn't have a maple neck. Is it just for asthetics, or is it for tone? What about a mahogany neck on a maple guitar?

[woodbox]

I have one of each--

My 1988 Martin J65M is a Maple Jumbo size with a Mahogany neck.
My 2004 Martin 00-16 DBFM is Maple Deep Body 00 size with a Maple neck.

They are both bright and clear sounding, but I cannot address the issue of how the Maple vs Mahogany affects the tone.

My J65m is quite rare, only made for about 5 years and, like you say, the only Maple guitar I have seen without a maple neck.

I would like to hear from the owners of Gibson Maple J45's. Do they have a Maple neck?

[MikeD]

There are plenty of maple guitars with mahogany necks. Aesthetically I like maple, but I know a few builders that prefer mahogany because they feel it improves the tone over a maple neck. I'm not sure if I have ever really noticed a big difference either way, but then again I don't get to play a lot of maple guitars.

[brian a.]

I have 2 maple bodied guitars. Both have mahogany necks. And I have played quite a few other models with either mahogany or maple necks. Quite frankly, I don't recall a tonal difference between the necks.

[Wade Hampton]

I agree with the builders who feel that mahogany necks on maple guitars make for a better-sounding guitar. I've had the opportunity to play many maple guitars equipped with maple or mahogany side by side, including a pair of otherwise identical Gibson J-185's owned by Fred "J-185-4me" Shrimer, and the mahogany-necked guitars invariably have more of a low end response and more overall "warmth" than the maple-necked guitars.

That's not to say that maple-necked guitars can't sound great. I've owned a couple that did. But the chances of getting a sweet-sounding maple guitar seem to increase when the neck is made out of mahogany.

I'm not the only person who feels this way - the highly respected archtop guitar builder Bob Benedetto says the same thing in his book:

What Benedetto says, essentially, is that maple necks on maple guitars is basically a visual aesthetic choice, but that mahogany necks improve the sound. He also says that he wishes that more of his guitar customers would order their instruments with mahogany necks.

As a multi-instrumentalist, I find that I like maple necks on mandolins and banjos, but mahogany necks on most everything else. The two maple guitars I currently own both have mahogany necks on them.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[AZLiberty]

It's mostly for aesthetics.

Almost every maple Larrivee I have seen has a mahogany neck. I've only seen one or two customs which were maple.

The downside is obviously weight/balance.

[brian a.]

Wade,
Thanks for the post. You knocked the cobwebs loose in my head. I agree completely with your comments regarding mahogany vs maple necks on acoustics. thanks.

[jseth]

Here is a picture of my Mark Angus #35, built for me in 1979... Honduran mahogany neck, maple b/s, German Black Forest spruce top... sounded wonderful, right off the bench... and it still does!



I don't believe I have ever played a maple guitar with a maple neck that I actually liked the sound of...

[J185-4Me]

As Wade mentioned, the J-185 is one of the standout models in which a maple b&s body is mated to a mahogany neck.

Here's a nice blonde '04 that illustrates this well:


The standard spec for the J-185, since its introduction in 1951, has always been mahogany neck with maple body. Nice combination, IMHO.

Fred

[Play2PraiseHim]

Ive seen and refused several nice maple guitars because they had mahogany necks. It looks off to me.

[Wade Hampton]

Brian wrote:

Originally Posted by brian a.

Wade,
Thanks for the post. You knocked the cobwebs loose in my head. I agree completely with your comments regarding mahogany vs maple necks on acoustics. thanks.

No extra charge for cobweb-knocking, Brian! Glad to be of assistance.

The AZ wrote:

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

It's mostly for aesthetics.

Almost every maple Larrivee I have seen has a mahogany neck. I've only seen one or two customs which were maple.

The downside is obviously weight/balance.

The weight and balance of maple necks IS an issue. Another, less obvious issue is that most of the maple-necked instruments I've ever played have lost a great deal of tone when capoed.

It's more dramatic on some guitars than others, but what I found on the maple-necked guitars I owned is that when you apply a capo, the drop-off in tone quality is obvious once you get up to the third fret. It can get really bad past that.

It seems to have something to do with the density of the wood.


whm

[denny1948golf]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I agree with the builders who feel that mahogany necks on maple guitars make for a better-sounding guitar. I've had the opportunity to play many maple guitars equipped with maple or mahogany side by side, including a pair of otherwise identical Gibson J-185's owned by Fred "J-185-4me" Shrimer, and the mahogany-necked guitars invariably have more of a low end response and more overall "warmth" than the maple-necked guitars.

That's not to say that maple-necked guitars can't sound great. I've owned a couple that did. But the chances of getting a sweet-sounding maple guitar seem to increase when the neck is made out of mahogany.

I'm not the only person who feels this way - the highly respected archtop guitar builder Bob Benedetto says the same thing in his book:

What Benedetto says, essentially, is that maple necks on maple guitars is basically a visual aesthetic choice, but that mahogany necks improve the sound. He also says that he wishes that more of his guitar customers would order their instruments with mahogany necks.

As a multi-instrumentalist, I find that I like maple necks on mandolins and banjos, but mahogany necks on most everything else. The two maple guitars I currently own both have mahogany necks on them.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

Wade, thanks for your in formative and thoughtful post. I'm waiting for a Taylor 618e to come in at a Taylor Dealer I'm working with. I'm strongly leaning toward going BTO and ordering a 618 with a mahogany neck and maybe a darker finish.

[oldrocker]

Originally Posted by denny1948golf

I can't remember seeing a maple acoustic that didn't have a maple neck. Is it just for asthetics, or is it for tone? What about a mahogany neck on a maple guitar?

I've wondered this myself. I had a Taylor GS6 (maple/spruce) that I loved but didn't like the glossed maple neck. David Webber, for one, makes maple body guitars with mahogany necks and they are satin finished.

[sizemology]

In my experience, most maple-bodied acoustics have mahogany necks, as opposed to maple necks. Case in point, my Marc Beneteau 00:

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by denny1948golf

Wade, thanks for your in formative and thoughtful post. I'm waiting for a Taylor 618e to come in at a Taylor Dealer I'm working with. I'm strongly leaning toward going BTO and ordering a 618 with a mahogany neck and maybe a darker finish.

Chances are you'll like the sound better if it has a mahogany neck - that's been my general experience, anyway.

Speaking of darker finishes on Taylor guitars, I played a nylon string Taylor at our local dealership that had the most beautiful dark finish on it - it looked like the dark brown Cremona finish that Gibson used to put on a lot of their instruments back in the early 1920's.

It was a lot like this guitar, only right-handed, not left-:

whm