Differences in wood weight Meranti vs util Meranti

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Hello.... yup. even more woodiness for you all :)

 

So today I got even MORE wood... Everything you can see here including the ones on the floor leaning against the work bench

 

today I got some more Meranti but with a difference.. This new stuff is utility grade Meranti which means its a much harder than the last few lots I got (as I had a chat with the guy about wood hardness today) and man is it.. Later I will show you the weights of two bodies

 

So this is the stuff...

 

and cleaned up

 

AND I got a few slabs that were big enough for a one piece body... sweet :D

 

Here it is cut out (roughly)

 

So then what I did was get that body and one of the Metanti ones I have already made of the lighter wood type.. Both are the same thickness

 

And the same shape (in fact the one on the bottom is slightly bigger as I am yet to finish it fully (its the lighter wood)

 

 

And now the interesting part... This is the heavy wood (I know those scales arnt the most accurate, but will do :))

 

So that was about 7lbs.... and this is the lighter one

 

Which was less than half the weight Yet to look at you would think they were exactly the same wood

 

So it just goes to show the massive difference two woods that look exactly the same can have... In fact the light Meranti bodies I have are so light I wonder if I can even really use them as the necks have to be hard wood and thus will be much heavier and will result in neck dive. Maybe I can compensate with a smaller headstock size for those bodies?

 

So this is where I am getting in to the finer points of guitar design.. Exactly why you use only certain woods for necks and bodies etc etc.. All part of the fun though :D

 

Also below you will see another piece I have which at the moment im not sure what it is... see if you know?

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One of the things I really enjoy about picking up a new batch of wood is that you never know what you are going to find :)

 

So I saw this piece.. It was HEAVY so I know its a good hard wood... but in the state it was in you never know what its going to turn out to be

 

I then cleaned it up a bit to reveal

 

Lol and you know what, im not exactly sure what it is yet.. I will need to do some looking up... I sort of thought it was maple but then the grain pattern doesn't quite match, but it may be a type of maple... or something :) Anyone know?