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I just bought a 6' piece of quartersawn 10/4 Mahogany. Got a pretty good deal because there was a crack in one part of it. No biggie since I'm cutting of 3-3.5" at a time to build guitar necks.

In trying not to be wasteful, I cut the 1st piece from where the crack was and turned it on it's side so it's essentially flat sawn. This was the only way to salvage a blank out of that particular section. After facing everything, I noticed a good bit of it looked faded. It had a grey color to it. Does this mean that it's rotten or that it was just exposed to the sun for a while? What I don't want is to build a neck from that particular piece and have it crack or be unstable.

Thanks,
-Aaron

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Could be sapwood, could be simple color variation. Is it as hard/does it plane the same way as the rest of the stock?

Sounds like sap wood.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I guess the reason I'm suspicious is because of the crack that was in the piece. Figured there may be some correlation between the two. This is right in the center, btw. Wouldn't sap wood be near the outer part of the tree?

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Here's a pic

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

I'm not sure what that is, maybe some sort of mineral staining?

Does it seem sound in that area, is it softer, can you put your fingernail into it? If it seems the same as the surrounding wood, I'd say its ok.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

It is a hard to tell from that photo but it looks a little bit like Luan mahogany, which is really unsuitable for a neck or anything else. Do you know for certain what species of mahogany this is?

That looks like a container stain, from shipping. Water damage basically. Can't tell the species from the pic but that pin knot at the edge of your layout is most likely going to cause grief.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I agree with Brian Howard on this one. I think somewhere, some how, the wood was contaminated by drips of some liquid. Could be water, oil, or any manner of other nastiness. I am NOT advising you to chuck all the wood, but if it were mine I would certainly avoid using any of that stained portion. I'll also agree completely with Brian about the pin knot. I'd try to lay things out to avoid it. I'm no expert, but that's my instinct.
Patrick

It's Honduran. It's not a big deal if I don't use that little piece. For right now, I'm just getting my layout, templates & jigs, etc. all sorted out. I figured I'd try to waste as little wood as possible. The place I bought it from (come to think of it) did have some leaks in the ceiling with buckets underneath them. It probably is a water stain. Is that bad?

Thanks for the advice on the pin knot too. What will that do?

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

A water stain does no harm to the wood other than discoloring it.

What about that pin knot? Curiosity is peaked.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

It will make the neck difficult to carve. It will most likely look bad when finished, unless the finish is opaque. But most of all it will introduce an amount of instability into the neck and that's not a good thing.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Thanks Brian.

By the way, I see you're in Hummelstown. I grew up near the poconos a little outside of Allentown. So, howdy neighbor.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Could also be spalt or fungal damage. Especially if it got wet.

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Old growth, shmold growth!