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I live in west texas, and we have no only an abundant supply of oil and strip clubs, we also have one thing that while is rarely used on guitars, is very stable and has the least shrink/swell when exposed to humidity.
Mesquite

There are literally millions of them around here, no one gives a rats ass if you cut them down, and more importantly, it's very easy to work with.
I cut a tree down today and thought I would see how well it milled, I was hoping to get a fretboard blank out of it but alas that was a no go, I did however get a good knack for working it and it planes out gorgeously.
The only con, it can be full of knots, you have to cut down thick branches or the huge middle stump and hope there are no knots. You can see a full on here, but I knew there would be on this as it had branches coming out of it. You can see it has a beautiful contrasting color and interesting grain patterns.

Looks nice.
What's wrong with knots?

Nothing in birdseye maple lol. But people dont want them typically. I plan on making necks and fretboards out of this stuff. I just need to get a better chainsaw.

I think the flatsawn grain is uglier than the knots, to my eyes And with just one knot like that one on the left in the last image, if the board has some wiggle room on the length, you could position it so it's covered up by a 5th or 7th fret inlay.

If you get a good run of rift/quartered fingerboards sometime, I'd love to buy one or two off you. Mesquite seems like one of the best domestic fingerboard woods, being extremely hard, stable, and relatively dark. Texas ebony too.

I can do some quarter sawn stuff, the problem with that is how much will be wasted in the process. When I get a good log it will go from getting 12 boards down to getting about 6. But a sale is a sale. I will see what I can get scavenged up for you in the coming days.

I have two ginormous slabs of the stuff in my wood stash. 5/4 x 40+" x 2'. Mostly clear with some rough edges around the bark area.

I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with it, but I'm pretty sure there is going to be a Texas themed strat/tele combo for sure. I may try to get a couple of back/side sets out of it if it's as workable as you say.

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Jim Hansen

I'll be honest the only thing I have ever used mesquite for is ribs pork butts and brisket. It is a pretty wood and I have wondered on different occasions what it is like to work with, but since I live in Indiana the opportunity to handle it has never come up, the only mesquite that makes it up is clunked for smokers. As far as hardness, density, and work ability what is it comparable to?

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Here's a great link with some comparable woods - it's in the "Very Heavy Wood" section - http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plsept99.htm

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
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funny i was just looking at this chart a few days ago
http://workshoppages.com/WS/Misc/Wood-H ... -Chart.pdf

and i was amazed to see mesquite right up there with the rosewoods as far as hardness goes
i have used chunks of it for grilling, and in chopping it up with a hatchet to make the chunks smaller i noticed it was very hard