is mahogani lighter than maple?

[andrei]

yes, i'm going to the neck-dive issue again...

may the wood used in the neck (maple/mahogani) make the weight difference for EX/EXPs to be/not neckheawy?

[Boinz]

i hear maple is actually heavier.

[Fikealox]

maple is heaps heavier than mahogany, in my experience.

[Thrash]

http://www.espguitars.co.jp/oversea/customorder/material.jpg

[nameless]

Maple is the heavier wood. But neck heavy-ness depends more on the placement of the strap buttons and the shape of the body in my experience.

[andrei]

yeah, i ment it the other way round, but your answers explained it.

thanks!

[TheDevilHimself]

Please specify which wood of the mahogany family you actually mean and then we'll sort out which maple you mean :p

Jk

Not to spoil the answer, but there are literally dozens of different types of mahogany nowadays and they are all labeled as the same wood for instrument buyers (the mahogany family includes something like 500 different species!!!). That means weight can vary drastically depending whether your "mahogany" came from an African or an Asian tree.

[Fikealox]

Yeah, good call. The mahogany Gibson uses is particularly heavy, (apparently), which is why they swiss-cheese it.

[sirsloop]

The neck dive thing is from the front strap location. If there is too much weight in front of that point the neck goes down. FYI, my viper 400 was a little heavier than my old epi les paul. My all maple (minus ebony fretboard) kitty strat with a nice carvin neck and schaller locking tuners is pretty fin heavy too!

[andrei]

Not to spoil the answer, but there are literally dozens of different types of mahogany nowadays and they are all labeled as the same wood for instrument buyers (the mahogany family includes something like 500 different species!!!). That means weight can vary drastically depending whether your "mahogany" came from an African or an Asian tree.

you're right about that.
it's also what i've noticed, when finding info like this:

http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_wood.htm

i don't agree with the strap-button location theory:
moving the strap-button is a solution for this problem, but there are several EXP/MX out there, that are perfectly balanced.

it's clear to me, that heavyer mahogani in the body and lighter in the neck may solve this.
but when buying a stock guitar, does it come down to luck?

[guitarsatbmusic]

and they are all labeled as the same wood for instrument buyers (the mahogany family includes something like 500 different species!!!). That means weight can vary drastically depending whether your "mahogany" came from an African or an Asian tree.


Not labeled the same for high end instruments, or for those who care to know. And Honduras is in neither Africa nor Asia ;)

[andrei]

Honduras is in neither Africa nor Asia ;)

is Honduras mahogani of superior quality?
(i've noticed they specified this detail, for the ESP EX (japan), a couple of years ago)

[Fikealox]

It's a pretty subjective question, but Honduras mahogany is definitely expensive and sought after

[andrei]

It's a pretty subjective question, but Honduras mahogany is definitely expensive and sought after

yeah, i know, but i got the idea.
thanks!

[TheDevilHimself]

Not labeled the same for high end instruments, or for those who care to know. And Honduras is in neither Africa nor Asia ;)

I was just making an example. Many people think mahogany comes from South America - which AFAIK is not the case nowadays anymore, except that some companies have old stocks (like PRS).
I doubt Honduras Mahogany is very common, it's probably a premium wood used only on very expensive guitars.

Also apparently which position the wood came from is important as well: closer to the top the wood will be lighter than closer to the bottom of the trunk, given how is has grown. So from one single batch of wood the guitar builder can choose quite a lot of different woods for different purposes/price categories.

[Thrashman]

Mahogany