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Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: Denis on December 16, 2017, 03:08:37 PM

Title: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Denis on December 16, 2017, 03:08:37 PM
I thought about this the other day and wonder what a mahogany Ripper would sound like. Rather curious about it.
Has anyone ever tried building one?
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Basvarken on December 17, 2017, 10:39:15 AM
Not that I know of (yet).
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: uwe on December 18, 2017, 06:49:21 PM
That's what they were trying to get away from! But there were early maho RDs.
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Denis on December 20, 2017, 08:03:52 AM
That's what they were trying to get away from! But there were early maho RDs.

Really? Some RDs were mahogany? That's interesting.

I just wonder what a mahogany Ripper would sound like.
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: uwe on December 20, 2017, 01:24:59 PM
They were prototypes at first and a few crept out, they even advertised them early on, inter alia a fretless one.

(http://www.flyguitars.com/graphics/ralphearmstrong4.jpg)

FlyGuitars: Did you have more than one Mahogany RD? Where is it now?

Ralphe Armstrong: No, just that one and a maple fretted one. I sold it years ago to Marion Hayden. She still has it today; she still plays it. She's an excellent musician. She also teaches at University of Michigan.


Go to Jules' excellent site for more: http://www.flyguitars.com/interviews/ralpheArmstrong.php

There were even Victory maho prototypes and remember that the Q-80ies and -90ies were after all nothing but Victory shape bodies made of maho rather than maple.

Whenever Gibson strayed away from maple, they would eventually return to it. But the Ripper/Grabber/G-3 era was their first attempt to get away from maho basses so they stuck with alder and maple bodies there for quite a while. In the early 70ies, maho wasn't considered that hot a construction wood, possibly because it is not that much of a looker and natural finish basses became en vogue around that time.

With the current modernistic EB basses, we're witnessing another non-maple phase, this time with swamp ash rather than alder or maple. But maho will return, you just wait.  :popcorn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv1PF0tAE1s
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Webtroll on December 20, 2017, 06:29:01 PM
But there were early maho RDs.

My back hurts just thinking about it!
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Dave W on December 20, 2017, 09:22:25 PM
My back hurts just thinking about it!

I doubt it would be heavier than the maple ones.
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: uwe on December 22, 2017, 09:11:26 AM
Less heavy of course. Since when is Maho heavy?
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: 4stringer77 on December 22, 2017, 09:43:52 AM
An understandable presumption considering many exotic or tropical hardwood species tend to be denser and heavier than many north American or European hardwoods.
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Dave W on December 22, 2017, 12:54:38 PM
Less heavy of course. Since when is Maho heavy?

An understandable presumption considering many exotic or tropical hardwood species tend to be denser and heavier than many north American or European hardwoods.

Some tropical hardwoods are, certainly not all. Hard maple will almost always be roughly 20% heavier than real mahogany. OTOH a big-bodied mahogany bass can still be pretty heavy.
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: 4stringer77 on December 23, 2017, 08:36:50 AM
If you've ever looked for mahogany flooring, a very heavy wood called santos mahogany is something you'll come across more often than the genuine article. It's not even a real mahogany but it looks nice and makes for a durable floor. I have to wonder what the new vintage pro Epiphones are using. A khaya species would be good but Philippine mahogany, aka Luan or Meranti aren't true Mahoganies and can be rot prone when exposed to water.
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/mahogany-mixups-the-lowdown/
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Denis on December 23, 2017, 08:40:06 AM
A khaya species would be good but Philippine mahogany, aka Luan or Meranti aren't true Mahoganies and can be rot prone when exposed to water.
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/mahogany-mixups-the-lowdown/

If we're worried about our basses deteriorating in water, let's build some out of cyprus or cedar!
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: 4stringer77 on December 23, 2017, 08:45:47 AM
Cedar would be nice. It's worked out great on guitar and violin tops. A hollow body bass with a cedar top could be pretty classy.
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Dave W on December 23, 2017, 09:53:58 AM
Santos mahogany isn't even remotely related to real mahogany. It's much harder and heavier, like the tropical hardwoods used for fretboards. Considering the issues now with rosewood, you never know, maybe it will become a fretboard wood.

Supposedly Martin and Gibson used African mahogany at times in the 50s when they couldn't get enough genuine mahogany. At least it's distantly related and has very similar characteristics.

IMHO Philippine mahogany is a junk wood, not even suitable for pallets. Ugh.
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: the mojo hobo on December 23, 2017, 08:51:54 PM
Ironically Honduran Mahogany is plantation grown in the Philippines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swietenia_macrophylla
Title: Re: Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?
Post by: Dave W on December 24, 2017, 11:24:15 AM
It's my understanding that the mahogany Gibson has used since 2008 is plantation grown in Fiji, except for a few custom models. Not sure whether it's Honduran or a different species.