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Ok, not sure where to put this, so it's here
Has anyone used Greenheart on a solid body?
I know it's a bit of a swine to work with, but what's it like as a body, tone wise?

And how about Jarah for a central piece on a through neck?

Never heard of greenheart, Purple heart yes, greenheart no.

I'd say any good hardwood would make Bass or Electric material.

Weight would be a major consideration I would think.

Some of the wood reference sites might be good to check.

Why do you want to use greenheart?

There are a lot of common woods to use which seem to be favored.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

If you mean "Jarrah", one of the species of Eucalyptus, then a definite yes! I recently made a jarrah acoustic guitar bridge with the stuff- great working properties.

I've heard lignum vitae referred to as greenheart once. Is that what you're referring too? If so, it's one of the heavier woods I can think of, and will dull your tools pretty quickly. I'd expect it to have a bright sound, but I've never used it. If this isn't the Greenheart you're referring too, then my apologies!

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

First off, didn't reply sooner, no e mail notification, probably didn't click box!
Trying Greenheart 'cos I know someone who's got quite a lot of it, and it's a really good price.
Whoops, left an R out of Jarrah Already made a small start on one using it.
Nope, Lignum Vitae is Guaiacum spp, Greenheart is Ocotea rodiaei. Don't worry, I had to look those names up
Greenheart comes out at about an average weight of 70lb per cubic foot, Lignum about 80lb, compared to Maple at 46lb, Mahogany 35lb. So hard and heavy!

Over time luthiers settle in on preferred woods. Your sentence makes sense as to why maple and mahogany are used while others are usually only pretty drop tops onto the preferred body woods. I think ash and alder are also standard woods for electric bodies.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Found these tidbits on a wood site...

Duck! Here Comes the Greenheart

Explosive as well as poisonous, greenheart does have some good qualities -- like durability that rivals teak's. Sawyers in Guyana, Surinam, and Venezuela have nasty enough work in the tropical heat day in and day out without worrying about exploding logs on top of it all. But when a load of greenheart comes to the mill, they treat the logs like a truckload of ticking time bombs.

The species Ocotea rodiei, it seems, has an usual tendency to split apart so quickly and with such force that pieces of the log can fly when air hits the saw kerf. In at least one instance, sections of a greenheart log actually pierced a mill roof. To prevent such mishaps, mill hands secure the section of the log that has already passed through the saw with a stout chain.

As if controlling greenheart's explosive tendency isn't a scary enough situation, all who work the wood also must avoid getting splinters. That's because greenheart, while nontoxic and nonirritating to the touch, somehow causes severe infection when splinters of it penetrate the skin.

"Why do these lumberman even bother with the wood?" For several reasons. Besides being a pretty wood, greenheart ranks second only to teak in its natural resistance to marine borers and other insects attacks.

It also has high shock resistance, great crushing strength, a high density, and takes a polish with little effort. Such attributes attract ship and boat builders. Before man-made materials, fishing rod makers liked greenheart because it bent without breaking

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Heres something on greenheart that will make you think twice about it. Its from wood magazines site. Just click the supscription offer closed to read.
http://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/lumber/wood-species-2/greenheart/

Thanks for that. I knew about the splinters, but not the other stuff!!
Splinters shouldn't be problem using it though. I'll have to be careful working it, but if it's just used for laminated strips it should be fine, after all, it'll have a few coats of lacquer anyway.

I asked the joiner who's got this about the exploding bit, he reckons it's fine when it's dry ( ish), the main problem is when it's totally green and freshly cut down. Anyway, exploding timber doesn't hold that many terrors for me. When you've had a lump of wood weighing 4 or 5 lbs come off a lathe doing about about 3000 revs, you learn to duck pretty quick

I think I'll probably give it a go. If there's a nasty accident I won't blame anyone on here It'll be my own fault, but then I like to live dangerously sometimes, and experimenting is good ( if somewhat REALLY frustrating sometimes).
I'll let you know how it turns out, if I'm able to!!