I have all the wood together now and purchased some new luthier hand tools, so maybe in about a year I might get it completed. Very slow especially on the Mountain Mahogany, hand sawing, planing, and scraping out a veneer from a rough sawed slab that was warped. Douglas Fir neck with Mountain Mahogany face veneer, pegs, and back peghead veneer of Juniper. I used vertical grain maple dowels as bushing for the pegs and covered them with the veneer. Not completely finished until I shape the neck probably months away, so I shellacked the peghead to protect the wood as it can easily be scraped off for final finishing.

It is looking good so far. I am surprised you are able to do fine work like that with the problems you have been having with your hands.

-Bob

Hola Sam
Did you make head and neck of one piece or did you join the head...I cannot see the join.
It looks great.
Tell us how it develops.

Tomás

Tomas, It is 2 pieces. I sawed it at the traditional 15 degrees and used a scraf joint. You can see it in the second photo with the side view. From the back it cannot be seen because of the juniper veneer used to hide the maple bushings that give the mountain mahogany pegs a nice grip, yet work smoothly. Progress will be slow as I am doing it with hand tools and having to make and experiment with some of them is time consuming. Also learning different techniques than I used before and the Oregon woods that are not worked down like most commercial traditional tonewoods is taking a lot of patience, experimenting, and thought.

Bob, It is difficult at times and my hands do cramp frequently and require days before I tackle it again. The project challenges me and may take years to complete. With my ears having days of intolerance to much sound of any amplitude, it gives me a quiet peaceful thing to do.

Interesting project.

Where did you get the Mountain Mahogany ? I'll assume Eastern Oregon.

Thanks

I got rid of all my Eastern Oregon Mountain Mahogany a few years ago. I had to look hard to find these pieces and they came from Southwest Oregon. I guess it grows there also. Hard to find seasoned and ready to use. It is difficult to season without cracking or warping. Hard to find knot free or small minimal knot wood also.

I live in South west Oregon.
According to the BLM and the forest service, there is no mountain mahogany here..

I used to harvest MM in the Sierras in Calif and in Nevada.
There is a coastal type but much too small, more like a bush.

For those who do not know what MM is.. it is technically a bush and from the rose family..

Several instrument makers and tonewood suppliers in your general area. I was surprised that MM grew in that area. Also Manzanita which is one of my favorite Oregon dense hardwoods, but getting a piece big enough to make a bridge was difficult. It is also a bush. Interesting that there are two varieties of MM growing in Oregon. http://oregonstate.edu/trees/broadleaf_ ... ogany.html

Eric Meyer makes some fine violin fittings from MM, but he gets most of it from Nevada. Scroll to the bottom of the page. http://www.vanzandtviolins.com/FineTuning.htm

Here is a guy near Ashland that had MM growing in his neighbors back yard. Cut a piece large enough for a fingerboard. http://deweyguitar.com/pages/mahogany.htm