Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all!

A friend of mine (and roommate) is interested to begin in lutherie, and asked my to help him building his first guitar. I found that the LMI's LP kit is a real good deal. The only problem is that we're in Canada, so they can't ship mahogany to us. I asked them to change the mahogany body and neck for khaya, that they can ship, and sure they accepted.

So, I was just curious about your experiences with Khaya.

Is there much difference with tradiotionnal Mahogany (workability, look, sound, etc..)

Thanks!
Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

thanks for the reply!

All the mahogany that LMI carries (for body blanks) can't be shipped.

Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

My experience is a little different from Chris', but that's largely due to the variability in all species. Most of the hondo I have is old growth, fairly heavy stuff. It's a dream to work, looks lovely, sounds lovely. Easily a favourite. Khaya is all over the map, from gray, super light and absurdly ropey, to about the same weight and colour and look as honduran (a little redder, in general). It's also not quite as nice to work, as it has fairly interlocking grain.

Sipo is a touch heavier, on average, Sapele quite a bit heavier, but makes great necks.

I bought a big stash of quartered, ribbon-stripe Khaya a while back, and I've built several bodies, most with a maple neck, and they all sound pretty much like you'd expect a mahogany bodied guitar to sound.