Hi folks,  I am currently in the process of building John Smith's
busker organ from his plans.  On the advice from many prior builders,
I am using traditional woods instead of the balsa wood which John
suggested in order to produce a more affordable, lightweight, and
easy-to-make organ.

I have done some research on pipe woods, and have settled on white
pine for the bodies, plus mahogany and oak for the fronts.  (I would
have preferred spruce, but couldn't lay my hands on any.)  In any case,
my question is as follows:

The five lowest pipes need to be mitered after construction, to make
them fit into the case.  Since they will have hardwood fronts before
mitering, they will alternate between hardwood front/whitewood back and
whitewood front/hardwood back, after each mitre joint.

Does this matter?  Is there any acoustic or practical reason that the
fronts of pipes are supposed to be made of hardwood?  Should I cut
extra wood for the bass pipes so that the hardwood face will be
continuous all the way around the pipe?

The pipes will be hidden from view, so there is really no cosmetic
issue, but I am just wondering if there is a good reason to maintain
the same face as hardwood, even after mitering, or if it doesn't really
matter if the hardwood face alternates between front and back at each
joint.

Any advice would be appreciated.  By the way, so far, these little
pipes are simply _gorgeous_ with their nice tight seams (we used
a joiner), and the contrasting colors of wood.

Sincerely,

Manda Clair Jost