David Weaver
Hi, John - I'll send you an email. No need for any holly. I have persimmon blanks coming also to compare, though the grain looks more coarse than gumi.

Thanks for offering. Not sure about the piece size - it'll depend on what I can get. I managed to find some nice gabon ebony guitar neck blanks today, so that'll give me some offcuts to make the black pieces out of either ebony or rosewood.