One of the many options that we offer is the choice between Quarter Sawn and Flat Sawn woods for our necks. There are many questions that come up when discussing the differences between these two woods and hopefully we can try to answer some of those questions here and explain some of the differences as well.
Shown here in this photo is a Flat Sawn neck with a standard fingerboard on the left and a Quartersawn neck with a vintage veneer contoured fingerboard on the right.
As you can see from the picture, the grain lines on the flat sawn neck are running left to right and the grain lines on the quarter sawn neck are running up and down.
Quarter sawn and flat sawn woods are cut with a different grain orientation and come from different areas of the tree. This greatly affects the internal strength of both and subsequently, the quarter sawn neck tends to be a tighter grain and alot stronger and more stable than the flat sawn. The quartersawn wood is usually very straight and rigid and the flat sawn is much more pliable. There are advantages to both types of woods.
Due to its strength and stability, the quartersawn is a great wood for use with heavier string gauges, unfinished necks, necks with a stronger dual acting truss rod, and longer necks like bass necks etc. There is also a difference in tone on these woods. The quarter sawn has a distinctly brighter tone due to its density.
The Flat sawn neck tends to have a more mellow tone and is more pliable so it is better for use with vintage style, single acting truss rods and does very well with a hard finish but can also be left unfinshed as well.
Asthetically speaking, the wood grain is much more visible on a flat sawn neck as opposed to a quartersawn neck. Flamey and Birdseye necks are most often flat sawn. In the picture below, the flat sawn neck is the one on the top and the quarter sawn neck is the one on the bottom. As you can see, the grain in the flat sawn neck is much more visible and the grain in the quartersawn neck appears as dots that almost look digital.
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