SG Neck Material

[SG_ROCKER]

What are the Epiphone SG necks made from? They don’t have an actual wood listed. It’s listed as EPI9HC214, EPISN9348, EPINKN592, EPIJ1X839, EPIGKX132. I guess these are some kind of Epi code for the wood. But they are all different.

 

[Carrion]

EPi Standard necks should be Mahogany :)

 

[deMelo]

The specs say it's mahogany. In my own experience, all the Epis I've owned or inspected were made of wood that was substantially different from the consistent mahogany I've seen in Gibsons. Having owned both, I'd say it's definitely not the same wood, which doesn't mean Epis are not made of *some variety* of Mahogany.

 

[PermissionToLand]

The specs say it's mahogany. In my own experience, all the Epis I've owned or inspected were made of wood that was substantially different from the consistent mahogany I've seen in Gibsons. Having owned both, I'd say it's definitely not the same wood, which doesn't mean Epis are not made of *some variety* of Mahogany.

Gibson uses Honduran Mahogany. Epiphone most likely uses Nato, which is often called Eastern Mahogany, but not in fact genetically related to Mahogany. But obviously it got that nickname because it's very similar to Mahogany.

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

I do know I can flex my EPI LP neck like Pete Townshend used to do his SG's.
I don't do this at all on my Gibson SG's.

3 pc Maple neck in my Norlin LP is like a girder.

 

[SG_ROCKER]

On the zZounds website for the SG Custom that I want it list in the specs mahogany as the neck wood.

 

[Browning]

Mahogany

 

[DrBGood]

On the zZounds website for the SG Custom that I want it list in the specs mahogany as the neck wood.

Must be mahogany then ...

 

[Decadent Dan]

My guess is Philippine Mahogany aka Meranti which is not really mahogany but looks like it.
Boat builders use it too, so it’s probably strong enough.

 

[3bolt79]

On the zZounds website for the SG Custom that I want it list in the specs mahogany as the neck wood.

Out of the four Gibson Standards that I’ve had over the last two decades, The first three all developed wobbly wiggly necks, especially the first few frets. I sure hope my new Gibson SG doesn’t have that happen. I think that all of my Epi and Gibson SGs are Mahogan.

The last four Epi SG’s necks have been very stable, I have a Custom and a Modern at present.

I may also get an Epi LP Custom like I had before, and mistakenly sold it. Zzounds and AMS are great. I got my Epi SG Custom and Modern from them. Easy to overspend with them ha ha!

 

[Col Mustard]

Epiphone guitars are built to a price point.
So you can guess that the factory buys wood from many places,
looking for bargains. That's one of the reasons Gibsons are more
expensive.

This is not an Epiphone bashing post. Epis are built to be affordable.
So the wood chosen by the factory has to be capable of making music
and it has to be strong enough. In the three cases I know about,
this was certainly true. So the Epi factory can be trusted to build
serviceable guitars, but not to use fancy wood like Gibson claims to.

Also, Epiphone necks are made with a "Scarf Joint" which makes
the headstock stronger and less likely to break. The headstock joint is a notorious weak point on Gibsons with mahogany necks. I regard this as the price we pay for the awesome tone we get from our Gibsons.

My two most recent Gibsons were made with maple necks. This is a great feature IMHO because the maple is stronger at the headstock joint... (something Leo Fender knew way back when I was born)

Epiphone guitars are not limited to "Mahogany necks" the way Gibsons have been. Gibson observers and bashers would pan any
innovations Gibson tried... such as maple necks. But not me. I'm
all for innovation in these times of scarcity of tropical tonewoods.

So apparently is Epiphone. They seem to be free to build their guitars out of whatever. And this seems to work. My step daughter's Epiphone Les Paul Special l is made out of gawd knows what, but it sounds and feels great. That's one of the cheapest guitars made by a mainstream builder, and they nailed it IMHO. I replaced a lot of hardware on that guitar (with excellent results) but the wood seems good, and it actually has awesome tone despite its bolt on neck made of what.