Mattias: thanks for advocating restraint. Most reasonable of you I know wenge isn't the easiest thing to work, but isn't all wood with pronounced figuring or grain going to take some work to bend to some extent?
Yeah, there's a lot of different stuff happening in the woods I listed, but I think it could work. Not to all tastes I'm sure. Still, honestly, I'd be shocked if he built a guitar using only & all the woods I buy. If I just get things I know he likes, then when he decides to buy different tonewoods, at least he'll use the stuff I bought for boxes or something ;D The cocobolo's the one thing I don't think he's ever worked with, but I thought it'd look kind of fly with wenge.
If I buy a spruce top, I'm 99% sure he *would* replace that with something else. Even if I told him that the entire guitar-building internet seems to agree it's a great tonewood, he'll have to get past his anti-spruce prejudice on his own. He's not accustomed to taking woodworking advice from me
But: yes on the mahogany neck, 100%. In that, at least, I am content to stick to basics
Jon: that *is* pretty. Looks like it's got an awful nice finish on it too. Interesting distinction tho between building for solid-body vs. acoustic. I'm going to have to point him to this forum when the time comes. I imagine that the collective knowledge here would be a tremendous resource for someone on whom it's not half-wasted... as opposed to someone like me, whose primary woodshop talent is a careful pour of India Pale Ale. (Hey, same as my musical talent, whaddya know!)