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I found a lumber yard that has a small selection of hardwood lumber. Nothing figured I could see in the piles. They do have 5/4 Phillipino mahogony deck lumber. Very dark red, slightly purple color. Does anybody know about this type of mahogony? I assume back/sides would be OK, but do you think it would be suitable for necks as well. It looked pretty nice. 5/4 x 6" $2.69 LF

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It's not real mahogany but a wood called Lauan. It's used for plywood etc. It's not very well respected for building guitars. It's stringy, doesn't work very well and any number of other things that I've heard it called, but then again, I've never used it. It was also used at one time as a replacement for mahogany in boatbuilding but deteriorates much faster than the real thing. Sources say that Lauan is not nearly as plentiful as it was due to uncontrolled clearcutting and that Meranti and other species are now called Phillipine mahogany from places like Maylasia and Indonesia. Here's one link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_mahogany

Google it and you'll find many others.

I think that's a good synopsis. I've used used it in boatbuilding, and can't recommend it.
Moves too much, cracks, lacks strength in the expected directions. Maybe bad samples,
but i don't think so.