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Guess the Wood!

F

FzzyNoNoseChimp

Mar 13, 2004
25
5
#1
Hey guys this is a piece of wood my grandfather has quite a bit of and he wanted me to see if any of you professionals can guess what it is. Being a master carpinter himself, he knew quite a few friends that he stumped and I wanted to see if you TB'ers could guess what it was.

I plan on using it for my body for my up and comming bass. Good Luck!

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And no, I won't be using a pickguard, there's no way I would cover up this wood!

Rock on' :bassist:
 
#7
count_funkula said:
Looks kind of like Koa though I've never seen koa that wasn't finished.
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So you're saying that you always thought Koa "in-the-wild" grew with knobs attached and a tung oil finish? :D

I'm just playing - I couldn't resist!

Some parts of that board look like pecan or hickory while others look tropical like my brethren have said. I tend to think it's neither pecan or hickory because of the size of the board. Old hickory might get that large but I bet you would be hard pressed to find pecan that big.

What would really help is a focused pic and a shot of the endgrain.
 
#8
Alright I think I'll just tell you boys. It's Hawaiian Mango. My grandpa was sent quite a bit of it last year and he's been using it to build all sorts of things from chairs to cabinents. When I went to Hawaii last year I saw a guy with a ukelele out of it, very pretty wood when finished, lots of different colors. I'm pretty excited to see how it will work out, I'll be sure to share when I'm done.
 
#13
FzzyNoNoseChimp said:
So, to some of you experienced luthiers out there, what kind of tone can I expect to get out of this wood? Or is this going to be one unique endeavor.
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I was going to guess driftwood. Seriously though, I used to live on Maui. I never thought about mango as a luthier wood. I wouldn't expect some miraculous tone out of it, more than any other type of wood. It looks like a thin piece you're using for just the top. Looks pretty though. I'll be going to Maui next year. I'll look for some. Good luck with it.
 
#16
budman said:
I was going to guess driftwood. Seriously though, I used to live on Maui. I never thought about mango as a luthier wood. I wouldn't expect some miraculous tone out of it, more than any other type of wood. It looks like a thin piece you're using for just the top. Looks pretty though. I'll be going to Maui next year. I'll look for some. Good luck with it.
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Actually it's a block about 1- 3/4'' thick, so it's not thin at all, it's going to be one solid piece of Hawaiian mango.
 
#19
I have built two curly mango basses. The esteemes Bob gollihur owns one, and the other one (pictured) ended up back in hawaii via e-bay to the guy who originally put me in touch with a wood supplier there, whome I bought the wood from.

the wood machines nicely, has a tap-tone similar (but not as ringing) as maple, grain seals nicely and takes finish well. I suspect that it will mellow nicely with age.


akrl hoty

(if the pic was better and my 52 year old eyes were better, I woulda guessed it :spit: )
 

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