Let's talk about Okoume as a Tonewood...

[dzdandcunfsd]

Re: Let's talk about Okoume as a Tonewood...

Welcome to the forum!

Can you post a pic of it? I'd love to see an instrument made out of it.

I have a similar Ibanez to that, only had it maybe 6months now, but I've loved it so far it's all Okoume except for bridge and fretboard(not 100% what that is, but its much darker) It has a nice pattern, and has already darkened slightly just in the time I've had it, was fairly cheap(under $300) and new nut,saddle,endpins,tuners plays/sounds as nice as a lot of higher end stuff I've had. I was surprisingly impressed with it, had never heard of the wood myself either at the time of purchase :nono: one of those impulse buys that actually worked out for a change :headbang:

Am about to do a tele body with some(stumbled upon forum here while making sure I didn't just want to go ahead and go maple(I'm poor and also hate working maple)

Should be pics of Ibanez if I figured out how to attach some

 

[dzdandcunfsd]

Re: Let's talk about Okoume as a Tonewood...

My very first run of guitars I made in 2013-2015 were made of okoume and I had to make a strat recently out of this wood as well. My views:

- it's super lightweight
- it's soft
- it's cheap
- it works great (sands and routs easily)
- the dust is a nightmare. When I picked it up this spring after not having used it for five years I remembered again why I stopped using it: you need squeaky clean, fresh filters and respirators if you work with this stuff because the dust is so fine, it clogs up your filters immediately
- it's a tonal chameleon. Make strat out of it, and it sounds like a great strat (soft highs, great quacky tones, bouncy low end, hollow/scooped mids) but make an LP out of it with a maple top and it sounds like mahogany.

It's a great alternative for the known woods and so, so much better than basswood.

Thanks, was looking for someone who had done some work with it before I hopped into a project! appreciated.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Let's talk about Okoume as a Tonewood...

I have a similar Ibanez to that, only had it maybe 6months now, but I've loved it so far it's all Okoume except for bridge and fretboard(not 100% what that is, but its much darker) It has a nice pattern, and has already darkened slightly just in the time I've had it, was fairly cheap(under $300) and new nut,saddle,endpins,tuners plays/sounds as nice as a lot of higher end stuff I've had. I was surprisingly impressed with it, had never heard of the wood myself either at the time of purchase :nono: one of those impulse buys that actually worked out for a change :headbang:

Am about to do a tele body with some(stumbled upon forum here while making sure I didn't just want to go ahead and go maple(I'm poor and also hate working maple)

Should be pics of Ibanez if I figured out how to attach some

I'd be totally cool with the way that looks.