Mahogany: An Unstable Neck Wood for a 7?

[Codyyy]

I'm concerned about the stability of a mahogany neck on a 7 string. What do you think? Reliable or unreliable?

Deal is, I'm GASsing for a 7 string, and one that came to mind that plays really nicely is the Schecter c7 Hellraiser. However, the neck is all mahogany, and I know it's somewhat weak/porous. Will the added tension (especially since it's a 26.5" scale length) cause it to warp too easily? It's a $700 guitar, if you don't like it and have better options close in the price range, that'd be awesome.

[David McCarroll]

Mahogany should be fine if it is properly seasoned before being machined. The real issue with Mahogany is that it has a short grain, and a somewhat brittle nature, as opposed to Maple's long, stringy, slightly elastic nature, so you have to be reasonably careful with the guitar - always on a good stand, or in its case, and never, ever leave it lying on its back with weight on the headstock - you can supposedly break the headstock off an SG by dropping it back down less than six inches - because the top of the headstock is what takes the impact first, it breaks the neck just behind the nut.

So, no, Mahogany should not be an issue stability wise, but you DO have to be a little more careful with Mahogany necks - especially with an angled headstock.

[rbjammin]

I recently made a 7 string, 27" scale with a set mahogany neck and it has been no trouble. The only finish is tung oil. Although, the guitar has never left my house, and I'm not one to beat up a guitar (especially one that I made).

You can see pictures here on the forum.

[kmanick]

My Carvin 7 has a mahogany (tung Oiled) neck.
No problems here, but Carvin does use 2 re-enforcement bars in their 7
strring necks for added stablilty. Probably not a bad idea.

[Devnor]

Doesnt the new 7 string Petrucci F-1 have a mahogany neck?

[jim777]

If I had my choice I'd only get mahogany necks going forward on everything. My Carvin has a two piece mahogany neck, and it's fantastic.

[540s]

Mahogany is a great wood for necks (& bodies for that matter) .. even the zen mahogany used on the schecters et al.

I would not have any hesitation.

[TheOrangeChannel]

Originally Posted by Devnor

Doesnt the new 7 string Petrucci F-1 have a mahogany neck?

Yes and it's painted. Raw mahogany has a short shelflife because the sweat with cause it to rapidly degrade, therefore you can't go rawdog on that stuff unless you want replace the neck...often.

[Dino]

Originally Posted by David McCarroll

Mahogany should be fine if it is properly seasoned before being machined. The real issue with Mahogany is that it has a short grain, and a somewhat brittle nature, as opposed to Maple's long, stringy, slightly elastic nature, so you have to be reasonably careful with the guitar - always on a good stand, or in its case, and never, ever leave it lying on its back with weight on the headstock - you can supposedly break the headstock off an SG by dropping it back down less than six inches - because the top of the headstock is what takes the impact first, it breaks the neck just behind the nut.

So, no, Mahogany should not be an issue stability wise, but you DO have to be a little more careful with Mahogany necks - especially with an angled headstock.

I'm going to guitar center in the morning to try that!

[Drew]

If you're at ALL uncomfortable, the Blackjack is essentially the same guitar, just with a maple neck and passives. Personally, I prefer the snappier tone of a maple neck and don't get on with EMG's for rhythm, so within a couple weeks of buying a Blackjack I'd put my Hellraiser up for sale.

That said, I've had no problems with mine when I owned it, knew a lot of fellow hellraiser owners who also had no problems, and a bunch of the sevenstring.org crew swears by mahogany necks for Carvins.

[eelblack2]

No issue with mahogany on my COW7 necks or my Les Pauls for that matter.