BYO - Any builders here know the ballpark weight of the neck on a 'petite bouche'-style guitar?

bluemoves

Part way through first build.

Following F. Charle 807 plans.

Neck (plus headstock and heel) = Walnut / Fingerboard = Ebony

Worried it's HEAVY...

Played a 'home-made' guitar once before that had terrible 'neck droop' due to the neck being way heavier than the body, felt like throwing it out of the bloody window! Unplayable..

What kind of weight should I be aiming for?

Should I be putting aluminium 'stiffening' strips down the length of the neck? How many? Should they have holes along them to reduce weight?

Please, I need help!

wim

I am not a builder, so can't give you any solid numbers, but I can assure you that this style of guitar is often built like that. I guess it's in the RF Charle plan, a heavy neck and featherweight body? You have to be careful not to place the instrument horizontally on a chair, because they can easily tumble over.

There are usually two metal rods down the neck, and often an adjustable truss rod in the centre in addition to those two fixed rods, and the necks on these guitars are often very thick too - and the tops are terribly thin! All things combine to what I think you're calling a "neck droop". Can't say it ever bothered me, I may just be accustomed to it.

Gouch

Mine are typically right about 600 grams (1.3 pounds). Walnut neck, ebony fingerboard and headstock face, 2-way truss rod, nitro finish.

I weigh and record just about everything, with a goal of “do not exceed 4 pounds overall” (including hardware and strings).

Bones

Depends a lot on the density of the particular piece of wood that you are using. I'm not sure that the neck weight makes much difference in sound. Mostly neck STIFFNESS is the critical factor. Weight is more about player comfort but if the piece of wood is light but not very stiff that could result in not the best sound.

As far as neck droop, i've always wondered if that is one reason archtops have such big heavy tailpieces to kind of counter balance the heavy maple neck???

pdg

For very light guitars, I think light necks make a difference -- the whole guitar seems to vibrate and create a particular tonality, and punch/sustain tradeoff. E.g., flamenco guitars.

charlieb

Jean Barault builds excellent "Selmers" and he seems to have an obession on weight - he aims for around 1400g without the hardware and strings. His FB page includes pics of him weighing them, I haven't checked but I think that with the metalwork they come out around 1700g. Making a very light guitar is done at the cost of stability and my Barault does drift up an down with weather changes more than any other guitar I have. On the other hand my Barault is the best sounding Selmer i have ever had. Factory built guitars tend to be made heavier to avoid the problem of returns.

charlieb

or were you asking just about neck weight?...

charlieb

apologies for my misreading the question!

Buco

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/115881#Comment_115881

That is so true. People often wonder why luthiers use a lacquer over varnish, oil based and such when the latter make for a lighter and usually a better sounding guitar? Now I think it's because they don't want to deal with customers' phone calls, repair claims and possibly a bad reputation.

I decided to refinish my guitar with oil based finish and it is lighter and it sounds better but also, the wood is now moving quite a bit with weather which it never did before.

Barault built a reputation for himself and can afford making his guitars like that but many would take a risk if they did the same.

Bones

If the inside of the body is sealed with lacquer before assembly it helps prevent changes due to humidity.