Quartersawn vs. Flatsawn

[carlos shilinsky (shilinsky)]

Hi:
    can any body tell me the diference on these tipe of woods, and how they affect the tone on the neck?
 
  thanks.

[Derwin Moss (bassdude63)]

Quartersawn & flatsawn refers to how a piece of wood is cut. The neck of a Rickenbacker 4001 bass is 2 pieces of quartersawn maple with a thin strip on walnut laminated in between. MusicMan, Fender,& Sadowsky basses(and many others)have necks made of flatsawn wood(usually maple). Lakland basses use a piece of flatsawn maple with a separate piece of quatersawn maple(for the fingerboard)laminated together for their necks. I've read that some builders choose a quatersawn neck for better stability, whereas other builders swear by using either a single piece of flatsawn wood or two pieces laminated for their necks. I'm sure that grain pattern also plays a role; maybe just for looks. I've wondered about this myself. I'm sure Mica can shed some light on this subject.

[Michael DeVincenzo (jlpicard)]

To my way of thinking, using a single piece of wood in a neck,flatsawn,quartersawn or otherwise,is like leaving it up to chance that Mother Nature will be in a cooperative mood and allow that piece of wood to do what you want it to, not just now, but for years to come ,in all kinds of environments and constantly changing climatic conditions. Laminating a neck with multiple pieces and types of wood will most assuredly increase the strength and stiffness of the neck (not to mention the various tonal possibilities),and allow the neck to move in a somewhat predictable manner.I read all the time about Alembics that were built in the 70's that still feel and play great. On the other hand, if you like dealing with dead spots on your finger board,there are plenty,(read too many)Fender and Fender clone one piece necks out there.  Mike

[mica]

I looked around and found this diagram describing how lumber is processed.  
 
We're so sold on the quartersawn woods, in my memory we haven't used anything else in the necks.
 
I agree with Michael about the multi-laminations. You surely get more strength and better predictability about the future. Of course there are some awesone one-piece necks out there I'm certain.  
 
As far as necks go, we don't care about the look at all - it's about how it works now and in the future.  
 
(slightly related tangent)
We do use flatsawn, quartersawn, through-and-through you name it  for tops (but they aren't structural in solidbodies). One of my favorites is flatsawn Zebrawood - it gets a really erratic lightning bolt look to the stripes when flatsawn. Unfortunately, flatsawn Zebrawood has a tendancy to cup, so it isn't really commercially available. You've gotta mill you own logs if you want it these days.