Dear Collective Wisdom, I see that mahogany is never recommended as a lute building material (except perhaps for neck blocks). I wonder why this should be? Are there no surviving old lutes that used it? I do know that the Jacquemart-Andree vihuela is now believed to have dark mahogany pieces in its 'jigsaw' ribs. Cuban mahogany is not unusual in guitars.
Mahogany is stable, can be beautiful if it comes from the Carribean or Central America, is easy to work . . . So why isn't it being used now and again for lute ribs? Just curious. Bill Samson -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
