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Help with wood ID please.
http://www-.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=4669		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  RCoates [ Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:42 pm ]
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Well I was given a pile of wood a while back. It was said to be Maple, Mahogany, and Spanish Cedar.

Well the maple is easy. The spanish cedar is easy too. The mahogany though... It seems that I may have more than one type of "mahogany" here.

After another discussion here I think I may have some Meranti.

The attached pics show two neck blanks made of this stuff. The striped one is; mystery wood, maple, mahogany, maple, mystery wood.

The blonde color blank is mystery wood #2 It is incredibly hard and stiff it is hard to cut and hard to sand. About as heavy as mahogany maybe a bit lighter.

Both mystery woods have open pores that look similar to mahogany (maybe more of them) and they both seem to have a white substance in the pours.

Any thoughts? The colors shown are pretty accurate.



Author:  Mattia Valente [ Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:51 pm ]
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How do they work? I've got some African (and some honduran) with slight white flecking in the pores, so there's that. Meranti is usually (but not always) heavier than mahogany, and doesn't work nearly as nicely; splits quite easily.
Author:  RCoates [ Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:57 pm ]
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THe dark one is nice to work with. A bit hard on the sandpaper but not too awful bad. The blonde one on the other hand is very hard. it also generates tiny splinters when working with it.
Author:  PaulB [ Sun Jan 22, 2006 2:43 pm ]
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You can always go here and browse for it.
Author:  RCoates [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:51 am ]
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[QUOTE=PaulB] You can always go here and browse for it.[/QUOTE]

Been there done that...

Any other guesses?
Author:  RussellR [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:07 pm ]
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The Dark one looks a bit like Walnut ? Is it soft ?

Author:  Dennis Leahy [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 3:13 pm ]
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Hi Ronn,

A number of years ago I was looking through wood in a bin at a lumberyard that sold some exotics. I needed some Mahogany for a job, but got distracted looking through the "Philippine Mahogany" bin. There was such a huge difference in some of the woods - obviously different species. Some were harder than Honduras, some were softer. Some had more resin than Honduras, and they ranged in color from blonde through pink to brick red. The proprietor told me that bin could contain probably about 50 different species.

My guess is that you have a couple of the species lumped into the category of "Philippine Mahogany." Probably neither are true Mahoganies. May have come from Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia... You'll probably never know, unless you send a sample off to be analyzed. There are probably thousands of species that will make a stable neck, especially if laminated, so I am guessing you'll have no worries.

Dennis
Author:  RCoates [ Tue Jan 24, 2006 4:08 pm ]
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Thanx to all for the replies.

Dennis you may be right in your response. I have enough to build four or five necks so I'll use it on guitars I plan to keep. It'll give me an excuse to experiment more boldly with bracing.

Thnx again
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