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Hi, just out of curiosity, would ash work for the head and heal block of a guitar? Thanks

Yes, Ash will work just fine for heel and tail blocks. It is a bit heavier than other woods that you could use, but thats not such a big deal. Other than the traditional Mahogany, I've used Cherry, Walnut and Baltic Birch plywood.

Yep, no problem, other than the fact that it slightly heavier than usual, as Steven mentioned. (Although some mahoganies are quite heavy too...)

_________________
Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Brian-
Just about any wood will do the job, though generally folks seem to pick woods that are easy to work/sand/plane, fine grained, and light weight- if using solid wood. Ash wouldn't be my first choice unless I wanted to add weight to the guitar body (to balance a heavy neck?). If you can't get mahogany, then something like poplar/willow or even basswood would be good candidates for end blocks, IMO. Spruce has also been used for blocks. Sometimes solid-wood blocks are laminated to get the grain orientation 'right' and also to add some split-resistance.
Ash has been used successfully for laminated/solid linings - its good bending qualities are an advantage there.
BTW, though the naming of blocks isn't 'standardized' at all, it's more common to refer to them as the tail block and neck block. 'Heel block' can be confusing because it usually refers to the block that the (heel of the) neck attaches to, while many people think of the 'end' of the guitar when they hear the 'heel' word.

Cheers
John