Grain

The direction and arrangement of the wood's fibres, which determines how a board can be worked and how it behaves under string tension.

Grain runs along the length of a plank and is described by how straight, close and even it is. Straight, quartered grain is stiffer and less prone to movement, and it is what a luthier looks for in a neck blank, since a neck must resist string pull without warping. Runout, where the fibres slope through the thickness, makes a board weaker along that axis and changes how a top or a neck responds to stress.

Example: a neck blank with the grain running diagonally through it is far more likely to twist over the years than one cut straight.

Grain

See also