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I am sure this has been discuss before, but I still need some advise.

I recently received about 200 linear feet of Honduras Mahogany. It was left in a shop my late uncle owned in Ohio. My aunt wanted me to have his wood and this was the most interesting. He was a finish carpenter. This material was for banister railings. It already had a curved surface on one side. The material planes down to about 3 1/2 inches wide and 1 5/8 inches thick. They range in length from 8 to 11 feet. MOST OF IT IS NOT QUARTERSAWN.

This material is old. I am sure he had it in his shop since the 50's or 60's. Had more dust on it that you can imagine. I have cut and planed one piece. The stuff is very good looking. When wet or with a finish it has a maroon appearance that I am not used to working with recent mahogany purchases. The new stuff to me comes out a brown.

Can this be used for necks? And if so, does it need to be laminated? Please help. Otherwise, I guess I will have to build a lot of new stair banisters for my home.
Thanks
Ken

I like to use quarter sawn wood for necks. But there are lots of guitars out there that are not. Think it's more important to have straight grain with little runout.See what the rest of the crew have to say.No doubt lots of folks will take it off your hands if you don't want it .
Tom

If you make a two piece book-matched neck, maybe with a center strip, then you want slab sawn. If you think about it, you take the two slab pieces and then stand them up on edge and glue them together, then the grain is running perpendicular to the fretboard, instant "quartered" wood. If it is a bit skew cut, or the grain is quartered at the top but goes to skew as it goes to the heel, just orient the grain so that it is matched on both sides and any stresses will balance out.

Alan D.

Honduran mahogany is plenty stable, and there are enough examples of vintage Martins with slab necks. Mostly 17 & 18 series, it is true. I think it's mostly a visual thing, a slab cut neck doesn't look as good, or "classic", especially at the heel and at the back of the peghead.
As Alan pointed out, your dimensions seem perfect to build laminated necks. The proper way to do it is to "bookmatch", as it were, but from the end grain.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/