Official Luthiers Forum!

Got a friend asking about best place to acquire Old Growth Honduran neck blanks

any suggestions I can send to him?

LOL yea my brain knew what I was talking about... Yes Mahogany is what he is looking for.

Thanks Todd...

He said He would like to know a bit more about it being aged & making sure it's quartersawn. His guitar after built
had movement issues and he really wants to make sure this time it is from the best stable wood. I told him I would ask around for
someone who carries something like that for him.

He really has limited connections for wood sources and I thought if anyone knows about a great place for wood he described it would probably be here.
I am not building the neck for him just trying to help him find what he is looking for.

For me I would use the Kayha that I already have and put cf strips and feel sure about it. He is looking for more assurance about the stability of the wood.

Any help is appreciated

Thanks
Dennis

Hibdon Hardwood has honduran neck blanks. As does RC Tonewoods.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

12/4 stock will have quarter grain in one direction, flat in the other, unless it is rift sawn.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Filippo ... always trying to clarify ... thanks! LOL
.... I'm sure others are trying to figure that out also by the responses so far.

Non plantation grown but wood that has been around for 30 yrs or so probably tighter grained from larger older trees
Naturally air dried. personally i am not sure how you would tell for certain but some people have a sense of the history of the source of their wood.

Now I know there are people out there that make up names (see quote below) but the term Old Growth is used often and I was hoping I understood the term correctly.
Please help me if I have mis-used the term in my definition.

Found this as an example........
"All of our German spruce is “moonwood”, we call it "Moonspruce".
It is handled as described at the Moonspruce-section at the left side.
Moonspruce is not a secret to us, for learning more about it please refer to the "Moonspruce"-section at left."

All my sources for 12/4 mahogany lumber have dried up. If I could find good straight-grained flat sawn HM for $15 a foot, I would jump on it. It seems that most of it is now in the hands of luthier supplies, where the price is more than double that.
You want flat sawn, which is then turned on edge for vertical grain (3" thickness becomes the width of the neck).


I think the main issue with mahogany comes from internal stresses if the wood is not straight-grained. A lot of the mahogany I see lately has too much grain distortion to make a stable neck. Note that the terms 'straight grained' and 'quartersawn' are not the same thing. IMHO, a good piece of mahogany is very stable, regardless of its age or how quartered it is.

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John

and I took the sarcasm as your attempt to help me ... when really you were LOL

Wouldn't old growth trees with thick heavy branches and trunks supporting LOTS of weight be more likely to have tension in it than fast growing straight wood from a plantation?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

yeah, it's plantation grown....I've got some chunks of it that are very straight grained and totally vertical grain...not big enough for necks, but quite nice for electric bodies with 'waste' from boards being able to be used for scarf joint necks...or big enough to make a guitar out of a single piece of wood with a scarfed neck...really nice stuff actually...not sure of the geometry but I think I could even make a carved top out of them but that would mean the grain would not be parallel on the neck, still...been thinking about it that's for sure...though I might lose all of my woods in this divorce I'm going through...that would hurt for sure....

as noted previously, straight consistent grain is of paramount importance...what little 'genuine' mahogany that is wild grown I've seen lately is junk...warped, humped, twisted sitting there on the rack for supposed sale (wouldn't touch it with a very long pole and would use Khaya instead)

Last Honduras Mahogany I bought was some pattern grade from AM Woods in Cambridge Ontario, just a few years ago. Measures out at 4"x11 1/4"x 12'. Great stuff. I try to order from OLF sponsors when I can, but the AM people are really nice to deal with.
Don't understand why people are so crazy about 1/4cut. Spanish luthiers have been using it and Spanish Cedar, wjthout regard for grain orientation
for hundreds of years. Stability in all directions, is why there was such a strong demand for it in pattern making.

Brent

Why not glue up a neck out of 4/4 stock?
They are plenty stable.... Scarf joints have been used a long time and are good and strong...

A whole lot less waste too....

Thanks

I believe that as long as the grain is as straight as possible for the length of the neck, it's vertical orientation does not matter. I think that a neck built-up of several pieces glued together, makes it a stronger neck.

That the buyer of a luthier-built guitar believes that the neck must be sawn from one solid piece, straight & vertical-grained, is why we have a shortage of proper wood.

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Dennis,
I see you are in So Cal. It is a bit of a drive but Austin Hardwoods in Santa Ana usually has tons of Hon Mahogany in various sizes. A look through the stash and he should be able to find what he wants. They also have many other exotics that may come in handy. I just picked up a nice piece of gaboon ebony I can get six quarter sawn neck blanks from.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Thanks Joe ... I'm 5 miles from LAX so Austin isn't too far for me if I plan it right.
That is such a great place. I have been there a couple of times a few years ago.
Now you make me want to go just to see what they have now.

Ok guys, here is the scoop on Moonwood.

The following rights and rituals for harvesting on a full moon are ancient.

First, one has to determine the front of the tree were a fire must be built for the 7 neekid dancing virgins to dance around offering prays and song to the trees spirit. You can usually determine the front of the tree by the pile of excrement found around the back side. (nobody wood normally drop a load on the front side were somebody might be watching.)

Secondly, the tree must be feld by ax only as the sound of a chain saw can disrupt the trees peaceful life force rendering the wood useless for loofering purposes.

Now for the truth of the matter. The name "moon wood" has nothing to do with the full moon, other than the fact that you get a better view under a full moon of the dancing girls back side when they bow to the fire and "moon the tree."

Ya dudes...is true...me woodn't lead you down the garden path.


blessings
?adma


PS: Buy the way me still has a few sets let of that 800 year old Mongolian spruce milled from the support beams of Genghis Khans yurt and harvested in the Gobi dessert. Stiff like viagra and over 100 line per inch. @ $1000. per set , it won't last long...order now...just PM me.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Padma if you have written historical documentation for such ritual with all the proper paperwork for lumber import to US
and a sound sample of said wood to confim no chainsaw has ever touched it's bark .... including video of the ceremony ...... I would consider a trade of my Northern Night Aurora Borealis infused Sitka Symphony tonewood in trade.....

Ya Right!
thank you for the consideration but me no like tooling spruce...and no, me don't gotts non of that "mooner" spruce anyways...me much prefer cedar, so um sorry. But the Mongolian spruce is available (cash only purchases). Unfortunately, because it was smuggled out of Asia, there is no paper work for it.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Todd,
80$ hr?
Did you mean 8$ hr?
We're still talking guitar making here, yeah?

That's unfortunate. Around here it's about 60$ month for more or less full med coverage. Unless you're so unwise as to attempt self employment....

Anyhoo, neither here nor there in regards to old growth Honduran mahogany...

I was thinking 16/4. Can't even blame my failing vision for that one!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker