Sapele is a (confusing) type of wood. In the twenties, the gut string Martin evolved to steel string. Although many still feel BRW is the ultimate choice for steel string guitars, the soft and porous mahogany turned out to work quite well with steel strings. ), resulting in tearout due to its interlocked grain. Guitars featuring layered wood back and sides with a solid wood top include the 100 Series through the 200 Deluxe Series, along with the Baby Taylor, GS Mini, and Academy Series. While the rich tones of solid wood remain unmatched, a layered wood construction can yield great sound in a beautiful, durable and affordable instrument. And so guitar makers have sought sustainable alternatives. Sapele has a slight blunting effect on cutters, but it … Sapele Bastogne Walnut . Sapele – Entandrophragma cylindricum. An inexpensive option like sapele, for instance, which is sometimes called Africa mahogany, behaves a lot like Honduran, but adds a little treble shimmer. Wenge is popular for back and sides of instruments. Such is the case with layered sapele, in which we use interior and exterior veneers of sapele with a core layer of poplar between them. See a marvelous Bellucci Bastogne Walnut guitar here →. Sapele is much harder and stiffer than the Mahoganies, and it’s know for being difficult to bend. Sapele is a highly sustainable West African tonewood that’s often confused with the West African wood Khaya. Wenge Tonewood. Wenge is a darker wood with black and brown striping. Before WWI the principal demand for this wood came from Germany where it was used for decorative cabinet work. It is commonly known as sapelli or sapele mahogany, as well as aboudikro, assi, and muyovu. There are many influences on the sound of the guitar (body shape, bracing, strings, bridge saddle etc), but the type of wood used is one of the most influential. The wood that is used to create a guitar makes a huge difference to the sounds that the guitar will produce. Bastogne Walnut is a rare, natural occurring hybrid between California English Walnut and Claro Walnut that is found in typically northern California. Workability: Sapele can be troublesome to work in some machining operations, (i.e., planing, routing, etc. Within Taylor’s product line, our all-solid-wood guitar bodies range from the 300 Series and up. Weight: Medium Wood Properties and Sound . "Entandrophragma cylindricum" is a tree of the genus Entandrophragma of the family Meliaceae. Examples: Martin 000-15M; Guild M-20. Sapele is a reddish-brown wood that in many ways is very similar to Mahogany. It is also cost effective compared to some of the other high end wood used in guitars. Khaya, another mahogany substitute, is also known for its brightness. To me, the harder and more reflective sapele actually seems more suitable for true gut string guitars. 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