Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

treyhaislip · Feb 8, 2014

Re: Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

I've always thought of Sapele as a little bit brighter than Mahogany. My first thought when I saw this guitar was that it was Sapele. I had a Taylor acoustic that the back and sides had the same look and same grain patterns.

Juanhanglo · Feb 8, 2014

Re: Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

Looks like the back of my rg520qs which is sapele.
I find it very upper middy, not necessarily bright. Sounds just like mahogany to me ( within normal variation of course)

Nice guitar though

Chocklit_Thunda · Feb 8, 2014

Re: Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

youngthrasher9 said:
I was told that sapele is typically a tad lighter than Honduran mahogany, and that it's a smidge brighter. I don't know how accurate that it is.

Tonewise it seems to be a consensus, but since this is wood we're talking about, you're going to get as much variation in tone between 2 pieces of sapele (even cut from the same log) as you would between sapele and African or Honduran mahogany.
The lightness I'd agree on. Even African mahogany is generally lighter than Honduran most of the time. That being said, the difference is slight... Not like northern ash vs swamp ash.

MetalManiac · Feb 8, 2014

Re: Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

Thats the guitar with the Brazillian Rosewood Fretboard. That leads me to belive that whomever went the extar mile to use Braz. for the board, might also have spec'd Honduran Mahogany for the body.
I have a Warmoth with a 3 parts African Mahogany body that looks almost identical to the OP's, especially since both seem to have been oil finished . My Warmoth body does have a similar light streaking in a couple of places but not nearly as much .

Since its a very heavy body, I'm going to go with African Mahogany,since I would think an costly Honduran body would probably tend to be lighter in weight, but thats only a guess. I also considered Sapelle, but I don't know much about it other than its a Mahogany style body in looks and tone.

Agileguy_101 · Feb 8, 2014

Re: Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

MetalManiac said:
I have a Warmoth with a 3 parts African Mahogany body that looks almost identical to the OP's, especially since both seem to have been oil finished . My Warmoth body does have a similar light streaking in a couple of places but not nearly as much .

Would you mind posting a few pictures? I'd love to see it.

ItsaBass · Feb 8, 2014

Re: Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

I guess African ("ribbon") mahogany.

Reminds me of my African mahogany JDM Epi and Epi Elitist SGs (and just about every other African mahogany guitar I've seen):

AlexR · Feb 8, 2014

Re: Can Anyone Tell Me Definitively What Species of Wood This Is?

African Mahogany....Khaya or Sapele. Both having similar tonal characteristics similar to mahogany. Sapele tends to be heavier and dense, with some striping....Khaya tens to be lighter on average and some has striping, some not.