Our search for the world's finest tonewoods is a chance to explore a universe of tonal possibilities. Responsible procurement, careful preparation, and skilled craftsmanship are required ingredients in the guitar building process. Like guitars themselves, wood is our passion.
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Our other alternative tonewood that joined the Taylor fold over a decade ago. It’s sometimes mistakenly referred to as African mahogany because it closely resembles the West African wood khaya, which is commercially known as African mahogany. Sapele is a highly sustainable, relatively fast-growing wood. Tonally, it does everything that mahogany does, with a little extra treble zing. We’ll be able to offer it for a long, long time.
Goes Well With
Everything. Like ovangkol, it’s a great all-purpose tonewood that will deliver a consistent, balanced tone in a variety of playing applications, from fingerstyle to strumming. Its high sustainability will appeal strongly to players who want a solid wood guitar with an especially environmentally friendly outlook.
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| What about Brazilian? |
| Over the last few decades, Brazilian rosewood has maintained its reputation as a prized tonewood for several reasons: Its heritage traces back to the much celebrated pre-war era of guitar-building; it often has a striking visual appeal and a clear, full tone with complex overtones and ample dynamic range; and the supply remains scarce due to an export embargo imposed in the late 1960s as a result of overharvesting. “Brazilian is just kind of over, even though, ironically, there’s lots of it in Brazil,” says Bob Taylor. “You just can’t get it out. It’s difficult to obtain the proper legal certification. Even if you pull out fence posts or stumps from long-ago-harvested trees, obtaining them in a perfectly legal, above-board fashion, you’re probably not going to be able to get the legal paperwork to export it.” It’s gotten to the point where guitar companies in other countries, who own legally obtained Brazilian but don’t have adequate paperwork, have found their wood impounded indefinitely by government officials. On top of that, much of what is legally accounted for isn’t of the highest grade, yet its rarity has made it prohibitively expensive. Is it a great tonewood? Yes. Is it worth the current headaches associated with trying to legally obtain it? Probably not.
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