Wenge necks...How heavy? Any downsides?

[Masta' C]

Looking at getting an all-wenge Bartione-scale Strat neck made up by the good people at Warmoth, but worried a bit about excessive neck-dive.

How much heavier is Wenge than, say, a Maple/Maple or Maple/Ebony neck?

Any real downsides to going with Wenge in the long run?

 

[Chris Pile]

Depends a lot on the mass of the body and the hardware. We are talking about balance, you know. The neck is only one part of the equation.

 

[Masta' C]

Yeah, I get the balance thing, but that doesn't really give me any insights about the properties of Wenge specifically

I've only seen Wenge necks on basses, but I hear/read great things about the wood for guitar necks, I like the look, and I'd love to try something that doesn't require a finish.

I see people suggesting it's generally "heavier", but are we talking a LOT heavier than something like Maple with an Ebony board? If I go baritone-scale, it will be ~3" longer than a standard Strat neck, also!

 

[Mincer]

I have a wenge neck on a Warmoth strat. I'd use a heavier wood body and light tuners. Wenge is like 30% heavier than maple, but feels great to play on.

 

[Masta' C]

I have a wenge neck on a Warmoth strat. I'd use a heavier wood body and light tuners. Wenge is like 30% heavier than maple, but feels great to play on.

Thank you! I thought I recalled you having a Wenge neck. Does yours have a Wenge fretboard, too, by chance?

I know a lot of people do Wenge/Ebony rather than Wenge/Wenge. Just curious why that might be?

 

[Mincer]

Mine has ebony, with SS frets (red coral stone fret markers). I have heard of people using a wenge fretboard, but I was afraid the very open grain of the wenge would feel gritty or weird under my fingers. Normally I use scalloped boards, but this one isn't scalloped.

 

[Masta' C]

Holy cow, that's gorgeous! :eyecrazy:

That satin hardware looks sharp, also!

Did you just apply the metal Warmoth decal straight to the wood?

 

[Mincer]

Thanks! And yes, straight to the unfinished wood. This is is the body shot.

 

[GuitarDoc]

OMG, Dave, that is a GORGEOUS guitar!!

Yes, Wenge is a lot heavier than Maple and can certainly lead to neck dive especially on a baritone scale. That would be the only downside that I'd consider. But it is a very beautiful wood and very stiff and stable and makes for an excellent neck. It looks amazing with a maple fretboard. You can use a Wenge fretboard but it is a very open-grained wood. I'm not so sure you'd really feel the difference, maybe so, but it would collect sweat oils and debris in it's pores more than most fretboard woods commonly used.

For both esthetics and function I'd love to use Wenge on my necks, but my bodies are very very light and it would definitely cause severe neck dive so I have avoided its use so far. Maybe one of these days I'll do it anyway, in spite of the neck-dive. I would most likely use a flamed maple board on it because it just looks sooo awesome.

 

[Mincer]

Thank you! It was a fun project, for sure. It is a wonderfully playing & sounding Strat.

I would think there would be neck dive with a baritone, unless you had either an offset body, a dense/heavy body, or extend the top horn through some mechanical means.

 

[marcblum]

For Bass I really like Wenge necks, both for the feel and the sound.

My question: how does it change the sound of the guitar compared to a typical Maple/Rosewood neck?

 

[Mincer]

For Bass I really like Wenge necks, both for the feel and the sound.

My question: how does it change the sound of the guitar compared to a typical Maple/Rosewood neck?

I'd say slightly less true highs, more mids and lower mids. Mine has an ebony board, and SS frets, so that adds some high end back in. To me, the biggest thing is that a wenge neck feels really great to play.

 

[orpheo]

That strat has a swamp ash body and a wenge/bubinga neck, baseball bat style profile. No neck dive. Actually, quite a balanced guitar.

I agree with Mincer's tonal description. Wenge has more mids than maple.

 

[Masta' C]

I went ahead and ordered a full-on Wenge/Wenge tilt-back Baritone Conversion Strat neck from Warmoth.

I'm a little worried about having gone with Wenge for the fingerboard, but I guess we'll see how it turns out!

My goal is to swap out the Fender Roadhouse Deluxe neck on my first Meteora "XL" project and make it a proper Baritone guitar. I also think the gray-brown coloring of the Wenge will look really sharp against the turquoise blue body!

Some of the ways Warmoth chooses to limit their construction options downright confuses me. For example, I couldn't get a "CBS" headstock on a Baritone neck, but a standard Strat was an option. Also, I couldn't get a top-adjust truss unless I went with the "tilt-back" option! :31:

Now, the part I'm kind of excited about...

The wide-spaced Wilkinson USA Tele bridge on my guitar keeps the E strings pretty dang close to the edges of the standard Fender neck. Fortunately, Warmoth's Baritone conversion features a slightly wider fretboard that is "undercut" at the heel to fit a standard neck pocket.

I'm hoping this extra mm or so of width on each side gives the E strings a bit more breathing room and gives the guitar a feel more like what I'm used to from my non-Tele inspired guitars. :naughty:

 

[Mincer]

You can also cut the nut slightly to help with spacing, too. I think you will love the wenge though. It feels a little strange at first because of the open grain, but you will love it once you get used to it.