I received an update and some photos from Rory and Co. He's been working on the sides of my guitar, bending them by hand on the old metal pipe. You'll also see the guitar neck in process.
The neck wood is
Santos Mahogany, which I understand to be more dense than Honduran Mahogany. In fact, it seems not to be a true Mahogany at all. I'm told that this is the neck material that went into the DS8 guitar. Works for me, if Rory likes the material then I like it too.