The custom spalted mango I had made by Bruce Wei Arts in Vietnam arrived yesterday. It is beautiful, and I think it sounds really good. It's a special design with no sound hole on the top, but small sound holes all the way around the bouts, plus a larger one in the cutaway.
It's solid wood all the way around, spalted mango top, headstock plate and binding, curly mango body, maple neck and ebony fret board and bridge. The tuners are Grovner open gear that feel very solid and precise. It has standard Aquila strings, which I will probably change to something else, like Worth browns or Living Water.
I'm going to have the action lowered and change the nut to spread the strings apart a bit. It cost $380 plus $65 shipping to Los Angeles, which took about 10 days, and Bruce threw in a hard case in appreciation of all the posts I put up and all the business I give him.
Here is a sound sample (forgive my rusty playing) and photos.
[video]http://www.kohanmike.com/uploads/Spalted mango sound sample.mp3[/video]
It's solid wood all the way around, spalted mango top, headstock plate and binding, curly mango body, maple neck and ebony fret board and bridge. The tuners are Grovner open gear that feel very solid and precise. It has standard Aquila strings, which I will probably change to something else, like Worth browns or Living Water.
I'm going to have the action lowered and change the nut to spread the strings apart a bit. It cost $380 plus $65 shipping to Los Angeles, which took about 10 days, and Bruce threw in a hard case in appreciation of all the posts I put up and all the business I give him.
Here is a sound sample (forgive my rusty playing) and photos.
[video]http://www.kohanmike.com/uploads/Spalted mango sound sample.mp3[/video]