All your base...

I've been scouring a radius of 90 miles trying to find wood for the base of this thing. I'm want maple, poplar or hickory. The thing is I can hardly find rough lumber big enough to get a 4"x4"x42" dimensioned piece. Let me retract that statement. I've found both hard maple and poplar that would do, but I ain't paying almost $250 for it. Only one local distributor has it and they charge a premium. The search continues.