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A fellow gave me a nice looking set of Ovangkol. I have never built with it. Any impressions or advice?

I’ve joined the back and profiled the sides already. No big surprises so far.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Never used it myself. Doesn't mean I didn't want to!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I love it. In the rosewood spectrum but a bit more direct with a touch less sheen and shorter overtone decay. And pretty…

Thanks! Any unusual bending issues?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Not for me, but I’ve been using wood from the same set of billets for years now which is sadly coming to an end.

i got some a while back when i was visiting Sergei DeJonge's shop. he said it made killer guitars. Don't use too much water when bending or you can get rippling. I use a tablespoon or two of unscented fabric softener in a liter of water, spray lightly and wait an hour or so before bending.

I've used it on a couple of guitars and a banjo. It works very nicely--no problems bending. It does have a rosewoody tone. Takes a finish very nicely. This is a picture of a Hawaiian guitar I built using ovangkol, neck is also ovangkol.

Dave