Cuban mahogany and my own custom Les Paul

Hey guys I've decided to build my own Les Paul and I searched high and low for some Cuban mahogany from either Florida or the keys. I finally found some that a guy had from a tree that fell during a storm in key largo. I got three 14 x 20 blanks and a couple of good neck pieces. He's had the wood for years and it's been drying for about eight years and has a moisture content between 7 and 9%. The 14 x 20 blank comes in at a whopping 16 lb. It's a very dense old growth tree. Now I'm concerned that my Les Paul's going to weigh a ton. The luthier said that if I start with a 16 pound 14 x 20 blank the guitar will end up weighing around 11 lbs. Which kind of sucks so I'm not sure what to do at this point. Anyway here's some pictures of the Cuban mahogany. This is the real deal, old growth wood. There are six pictures the first three show the wood right after he cut it today. In the next 3 he rubbed a little lacquer thinner on it to remove the sawdust and show the grain.

what do y'all think should I go ahead and build this guitar from this very heavy wood?

Even before I clicked on the thread I thought 'now this will be heavy'.
There is a reason why Honduran was chosen for guitars, and why Cuban was the choice for boats and furniture.

Maybe try an SG out of a blank first. You can guarantee no neck dive at the very least.

Use weight relief and Maple cap

I have three really nice pieces for body blanks and two really nice pieces for necks. The wood is really beautiful. If it ends up being a 13-pound Les Paul that's okay if it sounds amazing. Obviously Cuban mahogany is extremely dense I wonder how this will affect the tone if I actually go through with this build.

Zentar said:

Use weight relief and Maple <style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style>tomb raider slot machine

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I do. It sounds great!