Quartersawn necks - opinions

SquireJapan

I'm found the guitars I really like all have very stable hard necks, and they're all maple and quartersawn (where the grain is pointing away from the fretboard).



I feel like if you have the option, that's what you want ... is there anyone here that thinks otherwise? I'd love to challenge my assumptions. I can't see anyone with a valid argument about non-quartersawn necks being better, other than people wanting to more accurately copy somebody's vintage instrument (which is a bit odd, but each to their own ...)

danishbacon

Quarter dawn, barcoding all the way. 

WezV

With maple, flatsawn is more than strong enough... As shown by almost all the fender type guitars in the world.  The extra stiffness of QS can be a bit different to what people expect from a vintage style fender, works great for modern styles though.


With mahogany, QS all the way.  I don't want flat sawn mahogany in necks unless it's flipped 90 degrees and effectively becomes QS 

Wazmeister

Every great guitar Ive owned or played has been Quartersawn

SquireJapan

WezV said:

With maple, flatsawn is more than strong enough... As shown by almost all the fender type guitars in the world.  The extra stiffness of QS can be a bit different to what people expect from a vintage style fender, works great for modern styles though.

...

Do you mean in terms of sound, or looks? I feel like between QS and flatsawn, QS sounds better (snappy?), but there are way too many variables for me to say.

I could swap some necks about, but if I'm honest, I can't be arsed ...

guitars4you

WezV said:

With maple, flatsawn is more than strong enough... As shown by almost all the fender type guitars in the world.  The extra stiffness of QS can be a bit different to what people expect from a vintage style fender, works great for modern styles though.


With mahogany, QS all the way.  I don't want flat sawn mahogany in necks unless it's flipped 90 degrees and effectively becomes QS 

Thanks for that Wez - I've always assumed that there is little, if any, tonal difference between QS and Flat Sawn in maple, but QS is more stable, hence less likely to need any neck relief changes due to temperature/humidty variations - Humidity represents far less of an issue in the UK

I've heard some say that QS maple, as it is more 'stiff' it will produce extra highs/clarity - But on say a Strat hard to get a true slant on this, as so many other variables also have an 'minor input' to the overall tone - Sum of the parts comes into play

Philly_Q

I like quartersawn maple necks.  My guitars with those necks have never had any other necks, so I don't know if it makes them sound any different.  But I like the way quartersawn looks.

WezV

SquireJapan said:

WezV said:

With maple, flatsawn is more than strong enough... As shown by almost all the fender type guitars in the world.  The extra stiffness of QS can be a bit different to what people expect from a vintage style fender, works great for modern styles though.

...

Do you mean in terms of sound, or looks? I feel like between QS and flatsawn, QS sounds better (snappy?), but there are way too many variables for me to say.

I could swap some necks about, but if I'm honest, I can't be arsed ...

Just sound .  Yes , snappier isn't a bad description of it.  The stiffer a neck/headstock, the snappier it gets

Fwiw, I spent about 15 years trying to make necks as stiff as possible and the last 4 going in the opposite direction.   

Kalimna

If the wood is inherently strong enough, then flatsawn often has more interesting grain/figure to it. 

ICBM

I prefer flatsawn. It's technically not as stable, but most of the best-sounding and most resonant guitars - especially old Fenders - I've played have had flatsawn necks, which was standard for Fender. Most 'high-end' guitars have quarter-sawn necks, and whether this leads to what I associate as usually the blander sound of them, I'm not sure... but I can't rule it out.

mbe

I have studied 80s TokaI Strat copies extensively and one thing I noticed was the exclusive use of one-piece flat-sawn Maple necks on the high end 50s replicas further up the food chain in the model range.

I only had ST50/55 models (number equates to Japanese Yen price x1000) which have almost exclusively quarter-sawn necks and the ST80/100 models I have seen all have flat-sawn necks. 

musteatbrain

I think my strat’s neck broke in such an unfortunate way because it’s quarter sawn

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/87201/luthiers-help-me-fix-my-strat-neck#latest

ADP

One interesting take on the quarter-sawn/flat-sawn debate is that if a quarter-sawn neck were to warp, it would warp in a way that the truss-rod couldn't fix, whereas the opposite is true for a flat-sawn neck.

WezV

ADP said:

One interesting take on the quarter-sawn/flat-sawn debate is that if a quarter-sawn neck were to warp, it would warp in a way that the truss-rod couldn't fix, whereas the opposite is true for a flat-sawn neck.

Sure, but the truss rod is not there to fix warps.  It is used to control the bow caused by predictable string tension, which it will still do on either cut.  It's not there to deal with an unpredictable warping of the wood

A traditional truss rod will only help solve a warped flatsawn neck if the warp is going in the right direction, where it mimics the bow from string tension. 

Many "warped" necks are not perfectly flat or quartersawn, warps become twists which no truss rod will fix properly.   

hhawkins

A lot of quartersawn necks on high end guitars that I’ve played have felt pretty stiff. I prefer rift sawn. Of course, every guitar and piece of wood is different. 

johnhe

I can’t back my opinion up with empirical fact, but my feeling is the quartersawn maple necks are too stiff and harsh sounding for me. So I would prefer non quarter sawn to be honest. Of course, since wood varies, and every guitar is different, you could easily get a warm sounding QS or a bright sounding flat sawn neck.

I’m very confident in my opinion that the neck on a bolt on guitar is the biggest contributor to the tone of the guitar - and by a long way imo. (I’ve swapped several necks on my own strats and the main total features always followed the neck, rather than the pickups, or bodies).

So, if the neck is a big contributor to the overall tone, it’s no surprise that it can impart warmth, or brightness or harshness to the guitar.

Schnozz

I prefer flatsawn maple tonally, because I play ash-bodied guitars/basses.

Whenever I think of quartersawn, I recall my masterbuilt charvel, where I adjusted the truss more than on any other guitar.

...It was one of those bastards where you had to take the neck off too.

Andy79

Variations in individual planks far far outweighs grain orientation regarding stiffness. The rest is just subjective bollocks. There’s just no reliable data on this because of too many variables. 

Wood is wood and Leo Fender never lost a wink of sleep worrying about neck grain orientation