If you’re looking for the best wood for your electric guitar neck, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve done some research and put together a list of amazing woods that make an excellent electric guitar neck. Some are more difficult to work with than others, but all produce a fantastic tone when used correctly. When it comes to quality and beauty, these are some of the best woods on earth!
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Maple
Maple is a very hard wood with a similar grain pattern to mahogany. Maple is great for use as an electric guitar neck because the wood is dense, stable, and easy to work with. However, it doesn’t have the same beauty of some of the other woods on this list. Maple is very popular for use in stringed instruments, especially the electric guitar. It’s a hard wood that produces a balanced tone and has great resonance. However, not all maple is created equal.
Roasted Maple
In order to get a great tone out of the wood, it has to be roasted. Roasting removes the sugars and oils from the wood to produce a hard, strong body that doesn’t go bad when you’re done using it. It also helps prevent warping as well.
Birdseye Maple
The combination of curly figure, deep tone, and strength make birdseye maple a favorite for many years. The wood is dense and has a hard surface, making it incredibly tough to work with. Yet, many people are willing to put in the extra effort in order to get an instrument that sounds like nothing else on the market.
Curly Maple
Curly maple is known for its unique appearance and even more unique sound. The wood is very dense, but it has a unique grain that makes for a highly sought after electric guitar neck.
Flame Maple
Flame Maple is a fantastic wood to use when making an electric guitar neck. The wood has a unique grain pattern that makes it look like it’s going to be easy, but that can’t be farther from reality. There are several different grades of flame maple, but the best for electric guitar necks is one with a very high density. The density helps the instrument sound better and hold up for longer than lower end flame maple.
Walnut
Walnut is one of the most beautiful woods that you’ll find on earth. It’s one of the best woods for electric guitar necks because of its ability to be smooth and silky. Also, it’s a hard wood that doesn’t break when you put the pressure on it. Although walnut isn’t a very dense wood, it still produces some great tone when used in the right way.
Wenge
Wenge is a fairly new addition to the list of best wood for electric guitar necks. Being a hardwood, it’s naturally resistant to weathering and cracking. It produces a powerful sound with a big tone and is especially good for producing an edgy sound that’s perfect for heavy metal music. Wenge is lighter than many other woods and produces a brighter tone than maple. Because wenge doesn’t require roasting, it can be used in many different styles of music including jazz, rock, etc.
Rosewood
Rosewood, like maple, requires no roasting in order to produce the best tone out of it. It’s a very tough and durable wood that often produces a brighter tone than wenge or maple. Rosewood is commonly used as the finger board on many acoustic and electric guitars.
Koa
Koa is a dense wood with a great grain pattern. It’s used as the fret board on a lot of acoustic guitars and produces a bright, vibrant sound that’s fantastic in climates that are very cold or very hot. Koa is one of the rarest woods on the plant, but it’s also one of the most valuable. A lot of carvings and intricate pieces are made out of koa because it produces such a beautiful tone, making it perfect for use in electric guitar necks.
Mahogany
Mahogany is a very hard wood that produces a deep, rich sound. It’s not as dense as many of the other woods on this list, making it good for beginners to work with. Mahogany is also good if you’re looking for a different colored neck than maple produces. Mahogany is sometimes used for finger boards and pick guards in acoustic guitars.
Best Electric Guitar Neck Woods Conclusion
There are a lot of different types of wood that make excellent electric guitar necks. Some are more difficult to work with than others, but all produce a fantastic tone of different guitar necks when used correctly. Also check out the best tonewoods for electric guitar bodies. There’s no one perfect way to go about choosing the best wood for your needs, so you’ll just have to do some experimenting and find what works best for you!