alluminium neck guitar

The Ovation Co. manufactured an aluminum acoustic marketed as Applause some years back.They were an economy guitar and didn't sound very good.
A lot of a guitar's tone comes from what type of wood is used in the neck.It stands to reason an aluminum neck CAN'T sound "woody".I know of no pro or serious player who uses an axe like that.

Tom
 
I am planning to build electric, and i don't need "woody" sound. Alluminium is dense and rigid material, so it resonate better - can i expect balanced bell-like "twang" or rinnging in just few frequencies ? Extra long sustain ? Also, i am playing metal, so i don't need natural jazzy sound - alien artefacts are desired. :)
 
I think there was an aluminum neck electric guitar back in the 70s,when I managed a music store,but I don't recall the brand and I'm sure it is long gone anyway.
Rigid is indeed the word to describe the tensile strength of metal as opposed to wood.Good luck in your experiment!
However musicality or timbre or tone is not a word USUALLY associated with aluminum.I work at a company, Rhythm Band Instruments, and today I have been tuning xylophones (wooden bars) and metallophones (which uses solid aluminum bars).So I have a small experience with the tonality of metal and I will caution you.When metal resonates,you get not only the fundamental but all kinds of overtones which may not be in tune with the fundamental.Think of a church bell ringing and you can hear all kinds of dissonant overtones.Perhaps this will provide some of the alien artifacts you are looking for.
Keep us posted as things develop.

Tom
 
Where aluminum has been employed in stringed instrument construction, it seems to have been with ease of manufacture and economy in mind. The material is light, easily cut or machined, and polishes well. That's about it. You see a fair amount of partially machined aluminum castings in lower end banjo pots and tone rings. If the material had a resonance equivalent to a bell brass or other alloy, you'd see more of it in use. Instead, it has found limited acceptance - effective in resonator guitar cones and cheap banjo pots. You may find the right extrusion (such as an i-beam) makes an excellent neck reinforcement.

I would expect an aluminum neck would be heavy and awkward to play. To begin with, aluminum is a very good conductor of heat. You may find its' coefficient of expansion is, say, lively. That could mean instant intonation problems upon playing the instrument and warming up the neck. Mahogany is a bit less temperamental.

I had a friend whose dad built a dulcimer in the 70s - fiberglass bowl back, wood top, extruded aluminum fingerboard, Schaller tuners. He put red racing stripes on it. We called it a "dulcitron" and had a good laugh. I expect his dad had a number of odd ideas before he hit the big one. Pretty clear evidence of thinking way, way beyond his critics, though. I'd like to take another look at that dulcimer today; I could probably learn a thing or two from it.
 
Kramer used to make a metal-necked guitar. Not sure if it was aluminum.

I had one of these guitars back in 1985 for about a day. I sold it to the first sucker (read: pimply faced, long haired kid who though any guitar with the word "metal" in it was cool - in other words - just like me) who came along.
 
Well, thanx for info; alluminium is not best material for neck. :(
What about glass fibre with epoxy glue and carbon dust filler ?
Do carbon necks allways have truss rod ?
 
Well, I don't know about that- the Travis Bean guitars are thought of very highly by the folks who own them.

I also used to own an aluminum-necked Kramer bass, which I bought in about 1982 after a collaborator bought one of the Kramer guitars (and some heavy drinking as well, I think). Her guitar was not the best tone machine ever, but I actually liked the bass quite a bit, and played it a lot between maybe 1983 and 1985.

It was a slightly wierd piece. *Very* neck-heavy, so a lot of players found that a bit odd. You'd have to play for about an hour before the neck warmed up and felt right. The neck was a T-shaped forging with maple strip inlays to fill out the T, as I recall- and all that aluminum took forever to warm up to the temperature of your hand, during which time the damned thing would drift _sharp_ as the aluminum expanded. But the neck shape was actually pretty nice, it had *very* good sustain, excellent tuning stability once warmed up, and as one of the house basses in the old studio it got a lot of business. But not as much as the Rick, or the Steinberger that replaced it, which is still my favorite bass ever.

When I got the Kramer, the neck wasn't quite right. I took it back to the manufacturer (just a few miles away in Connecticut), and asked them to look at it. The manufacturer was housed in one of the buildings at the parent corporation (Kaman Aerospace, the helicopter manufacturers). The repair guy said "Come with me", and we donned hardhats and went back into the helicopter assembly area- where he pulled off the strings, popped it into a 500-ton hydraulic press, and very neatly massaged that neck straight and true before my eyes, running that monster machine with an amazingly delicate touch. Truss rod? We don't need to show you no stinking truss rod... I don't know if "luthier" is the correct title for that gentleman's job function, but "wielder of the big freakin' hammer" certainly is. (;-)

Odd beast, but I do miss it a bit. It could drill holes in the back wall when thumb-popped. If you encounter one of these pieces, play it- but play it for at least an hour, so it'll settle down thermally. There weren't many of them made, though, so that's probably not very likely.

Bottom like: try it. If you like it, then it's for you. The only rule is that there are no rules...
 
I didn't know Kramer was owned by Kaman!They also owned Ovation,who made the aluminum neck Applause guitars.So there is another connection.I believe thier engineers were ex NASA guys ,so they were more willing to try new and different ideas such as this.

Tom
 
re

Try an upper end Steinberger Guitar for a carbon neck. Not the ones they have at musicyo.

Also the upper end Parker's have a carbon composite fingerboard,but I haven't played one of those either.I've only played one of the cheaper ones.
 
I have technology and materials, and i can work with alluminium, fiber and carbon.
Is fiberglass neck ( layers ) with carbon figerboard ( applyed on raw fiber nack in liquid form ) good combination ?
 
Well, carbon is not materal which you can buy anywere.
I have done some testing ( thickness/mehanical resistance ), but i still don't know behaviour of this combination ( thermal stability ).
Will this neck bend under themperature chage; two long pieces of different materials glued together can produce bimetal effect.
 
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