[jtkung]

The traditional neck wood choices are:

• Strat: Hard Maple
  
• Les Paul: Mahogany
  

But with so many choices for wood today, luthiers are starting to experiment more on woods.  Bass guitar makers have done this for a while because they needed stiff necks to support the large string tension. Guitar makers have taken a cue from this. Some interesting choices are:

• Rosewood. I first saw this on a Klein Electric. Solid Guatelemalan Rosewood with no truss rod. Amazing. I heard a story that Paul Reed Smith saw this at NAMM once, and that's how he got the idea to use Rosewood for necks -- esp Brazilian Rosewood for the Private Stock guitars.
  
• Wenge. This is more common on basses and some acoustic guitar back and sides, but rarely for necks. It has a unique finish that you can feel.   More people are starting to use this great wood on electrics.
  
• Cocobolo. Essentially a fancy Rosewood. You see it on a few high-end Suhr guitars lately
  
• Ebony. Not used that often due to it's weight. But often used with other woods for lamination
  
• Bocote.  Another great exotic wood that's under-used
  
• Ziricote. Great wood with spider-webbing and similar tonal characteristics to some Rosewoods. Some say it is a great substitute for Brazilian Rosewood.
  
• African Blackwood. Very heavy and dense. I have never seen a guitar neck that used any of this wood in a neck -- probably due to its scarcity and extremely expensive price.  The Sankey Tyger does use it as laminate strips with East Indian Rosewood for the neck. 
  
• Laminates. This is a very popular option for exotic guitars, 7-string and up.  Some are 11-ply and higher and may include Maple, Walnut, Rosewood, Bubinga, Ebony, Pau Ferro as well as the other woods mentioned above. Mayone Guitars specializes in this. 
  

Glad to see so many makers venturing out and trying new things ...