Anyone ever tried building a mahogany Ripper?

[Denis]

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?

[Basvarken]

Not that I know of (yet).

[uwe]

That's what they were trying to get away from! But there were early maho RDs.

[Denis]

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.

[uwe]

They were prototypes at first and a few crept out, they even advertised them early on, inter alia a fretless one.



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. 

[Webtroll]

But there were early maho RDs.

My back hurts just thinking about it!

[Dave W]

My back hurts just thinking about it!

I doubt it would be heavier than the maple ones.

[uwe]

Less heavy of course. Since when is Maho heavy?

[4stringer77]

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

[Dave W]

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.

[4stringer77]

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/

[Denis]

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!

[4stringer77]

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.

[Dave W]

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.

[the mojo hobo]

Ironically Honduran Mahogany is plantation grown in the Philippines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swietenia_macrophylla