Laminated Birch consists of 1/32" layers of Birch wood which is bonded with epoxy under high pressure into a composite material. This material is remarkably tough and strong for its weight. It is denser than Birch, but not excessivly heavy. It is extremely stiff, and it's composite nature tends to even out its frequency response, alleviating "dead spots" inherent in single-piece necks. It is dark gray and in color, with alternating dark and light layers.
Bocote, from the family Boraginaceae, grows in northern Florida, the West Indies, Central America, and southward to Brazil and Argentina.
Bocote is grayish, yellowish or tobacco colored to reddish brown, with irregular dark brown or blackish streaks and variegations, with more or less of an oily or waxy appearance; fine to medium grain. Basic specific gravity > 0.84. Holds its place well when manufactured. A readily worked timber, finishing very smoothly. Durability is rated high.
The particular variety we use is yellow with black and dark brown straight streaks. Very hard and dense, it makes excellent fingerboards with a distinctive look.
Spanish Cedar is the Cedrela species from the Family Meliaceae (same family as Honduras Mahogany). Cedrela occurs from Mexico to Argentina and is found in all countries except Chile. Heartwood pinkish- to reddish brown when freshly cut, becoming red or dark reddish brown, sometimes with a purplish tinge. Grain usually straight, sometimes interlocked; texture rather fine and uniform to coarse and uneven; luster medium to high and golden; distinctive cedary odor.
Specific gravity variable ranging from 0.30 to 0.60, averaging about 0.40; Easy to air-season or kiln-dry, slight warp with little or no checking. Movement in service rated as small. Spanish Cedar is easy to work with hand and machine tools and has good gluing properties; stains and finishes well.
Spanish Cedar is favored for millwork, cabinets, fine furniture, cigar wrappers, and cigar boxes. It is especially popular in boat building, because of its resistance to rotting. It is used in musical instruments for nylon string classical and flamenco guitars, because while similar in appearance, strength and workability to Mahogany, it is considerably lighter. We use it for that reason on our light weight instruments, weighing about a pound less than a similar Mahogany bodied instrument.
Cocobolo is in the Leguminosae Family and grows mostly in the Pacific regions of Central America extending from Panama to southwestern Mexico. Of limited occurrence, usually in the drier uplands.
Somewhat variable in color, deep rich orange-red with black striping or mottling on exposure to air. Fine grain, straight to interlocked; oily; Basic specific gravity >0.98.
Cocobolo is denser and stronger than Brazilian Rosewood. It has excellent drying properties, free of surface and end checking. Shrinkage is usually low; high stability in use. Very low moisture absorption. Cocobolo has excellent machining characteristics; natural oils give the wood a good polish.
We use Cocobolo for all of our fretless basses because of the extreme durability and long life of this wood. Its natural hardness and oiliness keep it from developing the grooves common to other fingerboard woods.
Rock Maple (Acer saccarum, also known as Sugar Maple) is a common hardwood in the Northeastern U.S. It has been the choice for bass necks as long as there has been electric bass guitars. Medium density (Specific Gravity ~.7) very stable and hard. The wood is warp resistant and very smooth. It works extremely well and finishes to a polish. We primarily use choice cuts of straight grained "flamed" Maple which exhibits medulary rays (channels that carry sap across, rather than along the grain). Thus Rock Maple is both lovely and sturdy for use in instrument necks.
Swietenia macrophylla, from the Family Meliaceae it grows from Southern Mexico southward to Colombia, Venezuela, and parts of the upper Amazon and its tributaries in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Plantations have been established within its natural range and elsewhere.
Honduras Mahogany is reddish, pinkish, salmon colored, or yellowish when fresh; deepening with age to deep rich red or brown. Texture rather fine to coarse; grain straight to roey, wavy, or curly, often with an attractive figure. Basic specific gravity 0.40 to 0.68 averaging around 0.60. The wood can be air-seasoned and kiln-dried easily without appreciable warping or checking. Movement after manufacture is rated as small. Very easy to work with hand and machine tools, Easy to finish and takes an excellent polish.
Long used in fine furniture and cabinet making, interior trim, paneling, fancy veneers, boat building, pattern making, turnery, and carving. Often called the queen of woods because of its working properties. It is the most common timber used in acoustic guitars for their sides, backs, and necks. Medium weight and resonant, we use this timber for out body wings.
Mesquite is a member of the Legume family, Prosopis Glandulosa, and produces bean pods yearly. It grows only in four southwestern states in the U.S. and in Mexico.
Mesquite is a heavy wood (Specific Gravity > .8) with a unique quality. All woods shrink to some degree with changes in their moisture content. Most woods will shrink more across the grain than along the grain. This can lead to warpage if the forces are not equal or the grain of the piece is not consistent. Mesquite shrinks equally in all directions, meaning it is extremely stable and warp resistant.
We use two types of Mesquite lumber for our instruments:
For neck blanks, we seek out exceptionally straight grained, knot and blemish free pieces which provide unheard of stability. The difference in density between Mesquite and Maple means that their resonant frequencies are different, reducing "dead spots." Dead spots are notes that aren't as loud as others on the neck because they correspond in frequency to a dip in the frequency response of the wood of the neck. Using three different species in the neck and fingerboard increases the likelyhood that where one wood has a dead spot, it will be compensated for by one or both of the other two species.
For our body tops, we exclusively use burled Mesquite. Some Mesquite trees will naturally burl, where the grain of the wood is not straight, but twisted and curled around in crazy patterns. This leads to exceptionally bueatiful woods we use for the tops on our instruments.
Currently we offer crotch grain (v-shaped grain from the intersection of two limbs)
knotty burl (swirled grain from small limbs and twigs) and Mistletoe burl,
(fascinating patterns which are left by the roots of the parasitic Mistletoe plant as it burrows into the living Mesquite wood seeking nourishment).
If you have a special request for choice of grain pattern, we will try to fill it. Mistletoe Burl generally carries an additional charge because of its rarity.
The density of the Mesquite, when applied as a 1/4" top over a core of lighter Mahogany or Spanish Cedar, adds brightness and attack to the sound of the instrument to compliment the long, mellow sustain of the body woods. This gives you a complex combination of tones which is rich in harmonics and attack, lending a punchy, but still sonorous voice to the guitar.
Texas Ebony is a member of the Legume family, Pithecellobrium flexicaule. It is very similar to Mesquite and is closely related.
In the Mimosa family, the tree is shrubby and grows up to 60 feet tall,
and three feet in diameter. It is rare, growing only in southern Texas and northern Mexico.
The wood is extremely hard and dense, and very durable.
A dark Chocolate brown to black, with distinct striping in the grain,
it polishes to a mirror shine. It takes frets extremely well and once
dried properly it is extremely stable and won't warp with changes in humidity.
Difficult to work and rare, but its extreme density (sinks in water), color, polish
and stability are everything you could ask for in a fingerboard.
Limited availability, we sometimes run out of stock on this wood.
Forest Products Laboratory of the U.S. Forest Service.
Page begun: 1 DEC 1995
Last Modified: 7 May 1998
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