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That Mango Build

ragamuffin

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A continuation of the Dreaming up a Mango Tango thread. I said it was just a dream but it quickly started to become a reality! (or at least a fever dream)

I've been sick in bed for like five days, and that does things to a man's resolve. First you start browsing the internet, then you find some sick dealz, and you resist for a few days but eventually you cave to your desires.

Today I was a bad boy and made my first two purchases towards the build: a lovely figured mango drop top and a minty secondhand Van Dyke Harms telecaster half bridge!

This is the top that I settled on and an updated mockup of what the build might look like:

949781a1-c45c-4098-9aa7-0a91fe53fd6c.jpeg Screenshot 2025-05-20 at 7.02.29 PM.png

The "building" part of this build won't be starting until this Fall at the earliest, but this thread will be my spot for updates and acquisitions.

Anybody have suggestions for body wood or neck meat? As of now the plan is a mahogany or korina core and a dark fretboard wood.
 
Awesome ! Sometimes it takes a fever (or a few drinks) to make us get off the fence. Can’t wait to see this one.
 
Memorial Day deals! Kimball Hardwoods is running a 25% off sale and I couldn't resist the urge to scoop up this lightweight korina/limba body blank. They had some flashier pieces that I considered but I decided that the mango top will be plenty flashy on it's own.

This blank has a denisty of 2.35 lbs/board foot; I've read that a standard tele body all routed out has a volume of about 1.84 board feet, so if I was building tele body it would come out to around 4.3lbs. I don't know what the volume of a routed Dinkycaster is, but that sounds pretty nice to me!

img_8756-scaled copy.jpg
 
The mango has landed, I repeat; the mango has landed!

The good: it's a stunning piece of wood!

The not-so-good: the cut is... a little rustic. It's going to take some work to prepare it for being a guitar top. The thickness varies from a little over 1/4" to nearly half an inch. Luckily, ~1/4" is all that I want out of it . Also one board is just slightly cupped, but I think I can solve that.

I did kind of anticipated the "rustic cut" as I obtained the wood for a song directly from a fellow in Indonesia selling wood on a Facebook luthier's group. Probably not my smartest purchase decision, but hey. You get what you pay for, and I'm pretty sure that I can make it work. (y)

IMG_2459 copy.jpg

IMG_2460 copy 3.jpeg
 
The mango has landed, I repeat; the mango has landed!

The good: it's a stunning piece of wood!

The not-so-good: the cut is... a little rustic. It's going to take some work to prepare it for being a guitar top. The thickness varies from a little over 1/4" to nearly half an inch. Luckily, ~1/4" is all that I want out of it . Also one board is just slightly cupped, but I think I can solve that.

I did kind of anticipated the "rustic cut" as I obtained the wood for a song directly from a fellow in Indonesia selling wood on a Facebook luthier's group. Probably not my smartest purchase decision, but hey. You get what you pay for, and I'm pretty sure that I can make it work. (y)

View attachment 65119

View attachment 65122
It's the Mango Tango! 1234!
 
Killer piece of wood. Shouldn’t be a problem if you have (or have access to) a good Jointer Planer.

Looking forward to seeing it progress.
 
Behold! The Mango Squeezer 9000!!!

After receiving the mango wood I basically left if to acclimate with some weight on top.

Today I finally got around to attempting to fix the cupping. One board was mostly flat with very minor cupping, and the other a little more cupped but nothing crazy. I wet a towel with some warm water and placed the boards on it, cupped sides facing the damp towel, and let them breathe in some moisture for 10-15 minutes until they were looking pretty flat, and then clamped them them up.

I set it up like a nice seven-layer dip; clamp, particle board, mango, 1" square dowel, mango, particle board, clamp. The dampened sides of the mango face the dowels so they can release the moisture.

Hopefully this will work well! I used the particle board because it was cheap, but it is nice and rigid and everything seems good and flat.

I'm hoping to get the woodworking started mid-August

IMG_2531 copy.jpeg
 
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Behold! The Mango Squeezer 9000!!!

After receiving the mango wood I basically left if to acclimate with some weight on top.

Today I finally got around to attempting to fix the cupping. One board was mostly flat with very minor cupping, and the other a little more cupped but nothing crazy. I wet a towel with some warm water and placed the boards on it, cupped sides facing the damp towel, and let them breathe in some moisture for 10-15 minutes until they were looking pretty flat, and then clamped them them up.

I set it up like a nice seven-layer dip; clamp, particle board, mango, 1" square dowel, mango, particle board, clamp. The dampened sides of the mango face the dowels so they can release the moisture.

Hopefully this will work well! I used the particle board because it was cheap, but it is nice and rigid and everything seems good and flat.

I'm hoping to get the woodworking started mid-August

View attachment 65593
That is gonna be shagtastic bro!
 
Behold! The Mango Squeezer 9000!!!

After receiving the mango wood I basically left if to acclimate with some weight on top.

Today I finally got around to attempting to fix the cupping. One board was mostly flat with very minor cupping, and the other a little more cupped but nothing crazy. I wet a towel with some warm water and placed the boards on it, cupped sides facing the damp towel, and let them breathe in some moisture for 10-15 minutes until they were looking pretty flat, and then clamped them them up.

I set it up like a nice seven-layer dip; clamp, particle board, mango, 1" square dowel, mango, particle board, clamp. The dampened sides of the mango face the dowels so they can release the moisture.

Hopefully this will work well! I used the particle board because it was cheap, but it is nice and rigid and everything seems good and flat.

I'm hoping to get the woodworking started mid-August

View attachment 65593
 
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