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Koa's color varies so much from board to board it would be impossible to have a formula that worked for every set. Some are lean more golden some more redish brown and some even go a bit greenish brown. I don't stain the neck if I am building a mahogany neck I leave it mahogany no mater the wood combo'sMichaelP38799.5884606481

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] I don't think that I have ever seen (and noticed it) a mohogony neck that is natural.[/QUOTE]
Hesh, I'll bet you have, many many times, and didn't notice it. The pale "hamburger pink" color of Honduras Mahogany changes pretty quickly to the warm medium brown that you have seen in 1,000,000 guitar necks. I'm not sure if oxidizes, or if it is a UV reaction, or a combination of both, but it will change color.

For that matter, so will the Koa.

I know color combinations are an artistic/aesthetic choice, but I wouldn't dream of putting any stain on 99% of the tonewood species. (A rare exception would be if I ever build with quartersawn Oak, like the killer White Oak Bob Cefalu has right now, I MIGHT put a tiny bit of stain on that, and darken everything but the medullary rays.) Some color combos (species combos) seem to work together better than others, but to my eye, all of the warm colors of the palette of wood species look good together in their natural colors.

$0.02

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

natural Mahogany neck. As in no stain! The B/S wood is Tas. Black Acacia close in color but more honey gold than most Koa
MichaelP38799.6493518519

Give the natural a go Hesh, Mahogany is quite beautiful with a nice finish on.

Hesh,

If you have access to some garnet shellac, try some on some test mahogany. It really brings out the best in mahogany's figure, but doesn't cover or hide any of it, and adds a beautiful, warm color. Plus, you can then go ahead and use any finish over it.