Old Growth Khaya Mahogany – Sawn – Guitar Body – 50×400×600

Old-growth Khaya Mahogany guitar body blank. 50×400×600mm. Mature-tree African mahogany with the density, interlocked grain, and ribbon figure that built the species’ reputation in fine guitar work, not the everyday mahogany the trade has been running on for the last twenty years. Wide enough for a single-piece electric body. Ships Australia-wide.

Old-growth Khaya, at body-blank dimensions

Old-growth Khaya Mahogany (Khaya spp.) milled to electric body dimensions. This isn’t the everyday mahogany the trade has been running on for the last twenty years. It’s the genuine article: a mature-tree African mahogany with the density, interlocked grain, and ribbon figure that built the species’ reputation in fine guitar work decades before the commercial supply chain came to dominate.

The everyday mahogany you’ll find on most merchants’ racks is a perfectly capable working timber. This isn’t that. Old-growth Khaya is what we hold back for the build that has to be right. Denser, more figured, more predictable through the section. You can mill a 400mm-wide body blank straight from one of these because the tree was old enough to yield it, and the grain stays stable across the full width.

Why old-growth

Old-growth Khaya carries the tonal character that anchored the set-neck electric tradition: warm fundamental, controlled sustain, no honk. The mass sits below maple and above basswood, comfortable across a full set. The ribbon stripe that reveals itself on the worked face is the visual signature of slow growth, the alternating fibre direction the tree builds over decades.

From our oldest Khaya stock, milled at body-blank dimensions. Dense, predictable, ready for the template.

Working properties

• Hardness: Medium. Comfortable under sharp gouges and router bits. Holds clean cavity walls and detail around the binding ledge.
• Grain: Interlocked, with ribbon figure on worked faces. Read the grain before routing the edge for chip-out control.
• Machining: Routes cleanly with sharp carbide tooling and a two-flute upcut spiral. Glues well at the centre joint if you’re laminating to wider; finishes near-glassy with minimal grain fill.
• Surface: Supplied rough-sawn. Dress one face true before templating; acclimate the blank for two weeks in your workshop before routing.
• Finishing: Rustins Danish oil over a grain-fill builds a warm hand-rubbed result. Pore-fill and spray with nitro for the classic Les Paul Custom route.

Shipping & Pickup

Ships Australia-wide via Aramex freight. Pickup from our Mulgrave NSW location Mon–Fri 9am–4pm, Sat 9am–12pm. Freight quotes on multiple body blanks: call (02) 4577 5277 or email sales@trendtimbers.com.au.

Kiln dried and ready to work

All of our timber is kiln dried to Australian standards, so it arrives stable and ready to be worked.

Because timber is a natural product, not all stock is ready to send immediately. Occasionally we need to mill your timber to the size you’ve specified before dispatch.