I have never heard of a mahogany rim but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I think many people though go with the standard maple rim and then change or work with the other variables to dial in the sound they are looking for; less sustain, brighter or darker tone, etc., by changing the bridge, string gauges, string brands, picks, et. al. Good luck with your search, though.

Bobby

I made one with a walnut rim back in 2020, but I don't recall ever using mahogany.

I think Clancy Mullins just recently sold a mahogany rim. I bought a Blaylock bear tracks ring and almost paired it with a mahogany rim. I read somewhere that the mahogany rim made a world of difference in the sound this person was looking for . Let me say.. I have never seen a mahogany rim but I’ve heard about them . Best of luck

I tried one years ago but found it unimpressive. I like mahogany necks, but the mahogany rim was very lackluster to my ear.

I made a mahogany rim for a client by his request, & a tubaphone ring but for an openback. It surprised me how good it sounded but it was an openback.
I have never seen or played a mahogany rim bluegrass banjo.

Tom

Huber made a Chris Pandolfi signature model awhile back that featured a mahogany rim.
banjonews.com/2010-06/hubers_p...anjo.html

I have an all-mahogany open back. It sounds great. A friend has a similar spec banjo from the same maker with a maple rim, and I don't think they sound very different. The mahogany may be a little brighter sounding - its slightly lighter weight, but there isn't much in it.

By chance only, I made 4 mahogs in a row, first 3 all women, 4th for a man.
3 with Mahog resonators and one open back.

1950’s central Phoenix homes had straight grained door frames @ 1.5” x 12" x 8'.
The wood was held straight in place by nails. Remodeling in 2009 left the dumpster doors open, so I could pull pieces that hadn’t been cut the heck up!

The wood was well cured and had a nice thirst for stain, better than some maple.

The sound was woody and full, but still played the highs I was listening for. I used several coats of lacquer applied on the hand-turned lathe, let them cure out in the Az sun and shade before assembly. They weighed less than Maple, but stronger than steel of the same dimension I hear and read. Okay

I know the OP's question was about resonator banjos, but I think the feedback that mahogany rims seem more common among open-back banjos is relevant and interesting. I think the assumption is that mahogany yields a mellower tone than maple, however slight that difference may be. If a resonator banjo player wanted a slightly mellower tone, I think listening to the difference between a maple rim and a mahogany rim open-back banjo built more or less the same way, say something like two standard Reiter banjos, could be informative about what you could expect from a resonator banjo with mahogany rim vs a maple rim.

I use mahogany in rims pretty regularly for open-back banjos, but I also regularly incorporate a middle lamination of maple with an inner and outer lamination of mahogany. I do this to experiment with tone, but also because I like the look of a banjo with the same neck and rim wood.

Romero Banjos provides sound clips for most of the banjos on the website, including resonator banjos with maple, mahogany, and combination rims, which might be a good resource. Also, mhickler has posted his experiments with sound clips on a wide variety of rim combinations here:https://www.hicklerbanjo.com/comparisons.html

Looking forward to any findings you may have if you explore these options further!

In 2008 I had Jimmy Cox make me a Kentucky 5 flathead out of walnut because I liked my walnut tb-2 conversion so much.
I had read a Bela Fleck article praising his mahogany rimmed banjo (not his main banjo) and I thought "Why not have a totally walnut banjo?"
Jimmy said I wouldn't be happy with a walnut rim,but I was dead set in having one so he made a 3 piece walnut rim for it.
That year I took it to a bunch of picking parties and gigs and everyone said that "It sure doesn't sound right."
I went home and put in a Cox maple rim and it came to life.
I sold the walnut rim to an old-timey player who liked it.

There is an article somewhere of Bela praising a mahogany rim.Probably in a BNL interview.

Hardwood with gnarly and convoluted grain still has the same number of fibers per sq. in. as straight-grained forms of Maple Cherry Walnut; but still have the same lower pitch count by weight compared to Pine, except Larch Pine, which makes great furniture, cabinets, and banjo rims (big sky).

Straight-grained Mahogany was used to make the famous Higgins Boats for the D-Day landings in plywood form. Plywood is still a useable if not as desirable type of banjo rim .
I like the hybrid rims with Maple inside or outside. I remember only one all Ebony bluegrass banjo - how’s that going = weight?

Mahogany in 1/4+/-“ straps is no different in sound transmission characteristics than straight-grained Maple, Walnut, Hickory Cherry, Beech, Birch, Catalpa, Spruce and hemispherical variants like Bamboo

The differences are in each tree and tree jobber’s budget along with each banjo builder’s specs with customer’s budget.
Like ‘fiddle grade’, the curlys are for strength and the quiltings are her stretch marks from the wind (an elder builder from the hangout told me that).

You could hear the difference with a cast tone ring on a papier mache or pressed fiber rim. Less and less tone results from increase in pitch content.

That’s why Birdseye is more like a pinball machine and takes longer to mature.
Quilted/Curly occurs in other woods all the way up to Ironwood, growth rate means a lot.

Blindfold lobby has a challenge like coffee tasters, perfume sniffers, and sine wave makers.

My opinions are based on the few decades I spent as an ignorant seeker and expeditionary. People want what works.

Mahogany and cedar are favorite boat woods.
Maple and birch aren't.

I agree, cedar makes great rims, lightweight with very little pitch.