Burst Necks: Flatsawn or Quartersawn?

[wizardmc]

Does your Burst have a quartersawn neck or a flatsawn neck? Would you post pics, and tell us which it is?

 

[Jason Smith]

I recommend looking at the tip of the headstock to see the endgrain. If the lines go straight up and down, it is perfectly quartersawn.

 

[Jason Smith]

I also assumed most bursts had quartersawn necks, but now that I've heard differently, I'm very interested in knowing if very many original bursts have flatsawn or rift sawn mahogany for the neck.

 

[wizardmc]

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[MapleFlame]

Very good thread, I like when a new topic comes around for educating members. I appears to me that several of the 50's necks that have been snapped by the bend of the headstock have the larger grain patterns and also seems to crack at those grains.

 

[Jason Smith]

You're right. Definitely harder to see.

That picture of your burst neck almost looks rift sawn with the grain going 45 degrees diagonal? (If those are they grain lines I think I see.)

 

[wizardmc]

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[DANELECTRO]

Not a burst, but my Junior has a flat sawn neck.

 

[58burst]

My '58 (burst) is close to dead-on quartersawn.

 

[Tom Wittrock]

I have no knowledge on this subject. I have never been into these types of details. So, I haven't checked them for being quarter sawn or flat sawn.

But maybe you guys can answer this:
Does the angle of the headstock distort the look of the grain, compared to the rest of neck?

 

[wizardmc]

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[BurstWurst]

side view doesn't mean much. It's only the grain of the headstock "wings". Kind of tough to get a good pic. My '59.......

The left side is easy, approaching a 45 degree angle. On the right side, tiny little flames make it difficult to see that the grain on that side is consistent with what is on the left, approx 40 degrees from vertical.

 

[wizardmc]

But maybe you guys can answer this:
Does the angle of the headstock distort the look of the grain, compared to the rest of neck?

Thank you TW. Yes, you can see it on the back of the headstock. As I mentioned earlier, you are neither in the same vertical nor horizontal plane as the rest of the neck, so the "cut" of the headstock should be different than the "cut" of the rest of the neck. So the examination is not analogous to Fender guitars. This is why I started out by focusing on the back of the neck itself, not the headstock. But I'm somewhat challenged when it comes to visualizing this in 3D space, so I hoped the other pics might give clues.

 

[olgabowl]

This is why I started out by focusing on the back of the neck itself...

Yep...

Look for the flash of medularies on your rounded neck, and the associated "dotted" pore structures...

When you find them, your grain will run exactly 90 degrees to those medularies...

It's not as easy to tell as with maple.

Yep...

But use the same tools...
The medularies are the key...

 

[58burst]

On my guitar it's very easy to see at the heel curvature-

 

[GeetarGoul]

On my guitar it's very easy to see at the heel curvature-

This is where I usually see it too. If you see straight lines running up and down the back of the neck then it's quartered (or close to it) and if you see more topographic figuring then it's more flat cut.

 

[wizardmc]

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[shuie]

So, what does any of this mean?

 

[olgabowl]

Olgabowl - why is there that twisting sort of grain? You can see it really well on my '53 GT pic above.

That looks like twist that existed in the tree itself...
Kinda like twist-caused runout in a spruce top...

My hunch is that it's just a neck cut slightly across the grain, nothing more, right? Why would they do that? To maximize the number of necks out of a piece of wood?

I've seen that too, but your's looks like twist...
It might be my imagination, but doesn't it straighten out on the peghead??

So, what does any of this mean?

Well, judging by the number of snapped pegheads on these instruments, I would say that grain orientation is way more important on a LP than on, say, a Fender....

 

[wizardmc]

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