African Rosewood

2 January, 2010 (20:34) | Arts & Crafts | By: admin

African Rosewood

African Rosewood, also known as Bubinga, comes from the Ivory Coast, Gabon and Cameroon. Bubinga is bright and rich, very variable in color of pink, orange, red and black Browns. The heart wood can be pink with purple-red veins and dark purple stripes. African wood wooden grain pink lock is harder and heavier than Brazilian Rosewood, and has a medium fine texture. Cast pink purple Bubinga is oxidized to a reddish brown color over time. African Rosewood may be plain or spotted. There are images of African Rosewood Classic steel string guitar on the site ellisguitars.com. There are many species of mahogany Africa. That used acoustic guitar making is known as Khaya Mahogany. Khaya Mahogany is found in tropical Africa and Madagascar. Khaya Mahogany is light pink to medium brown to reddish brown. Khaya Mahogany is superior in strength Sapele Mahogany, another African mahogany used in the construction of the acoustic guitar. It has a texture moderate rough that sometimes overlapping, sometimes straight. Interlocked grain produces a striped figure Quartersawn surfaces (best for guitars). Like most Mahogany species Khaya Mahogany guitars are warm and clear with good balance. Another Mahogany familiar to luthiers is Sapele Mahogany. Sapele is located in West Africa, Central and East African tropical forest, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Zaire and Tanzania. Sapele mahogany heartwood is salmon pink and pale yellow sapwood. The heartwood is pink to reddish brown change with age. Sapele Mahogany a close intertwining with the texture of the grain changes direction and can be regularly striped. In addition, it can have large irregular pores, interspersed bands of small pores. Wavy grain produces intense fiddleback or figures spotted doing the same 3D appearance. Sapele Mahogany tonewood is heavier than other African countries, but not as strong. Ovangkol is relatively new to the construction of acoustic guitar. Guibourtia Ehie, also known as Mozambique, Shedua, amazoue Amazakoue and is located in West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, southern Nigeria and Gabon. Ovangkol wooden heart wood is yellow brown to dark chocolate brown with gray black stripes. Ovangkol wood grain is stapled and the texture is moderately coarse. Tonal Ovangkol back and sides lies between a high and senior Rosewood Maple. Padouk is a deep colored wood also known as Pterocarpus soyauxii, MBE, MBIL, Mutua, and ngula Bosulu. Padouk or Padouk is found in Central and tropical West Africa, stretching from south-western Nigeria to Zaire. The wood is bright orange or almost crimson as Tonewood guitar has good, straight grain, slightly harder and heavier than Indian Rosewood, with fine to medium texture. Padouk timber oxidizes a darker, rich purple-brown over time. Padauk guitars have a strong tone. Wenge is a dark chocolate Brown wood found in Zaire, Cameroon and Gabon, Africa. Millettia tonewood Laurentii brown with regularly spaced, fine black veins and dark and light brown bands. Wenge acoustic guitar back and side wood has a tight straight grain, across the width and a rough texture. Wenge wood stringed guitar is heavier than East Indian and Brazilian rosewood and like most of an African Wenge wood guitar has a strong tone of Nice. Zebrawood is named for its intense bands. Microberlinia brazzavillensis are in Africa, Gabon and Cameroon. Zebrawood timber has bold colors evenly striped overall with gold-tan, yellows and browns. The wood has a very coarse coarse grain and density is similar to East Indian Rosewood. Zebrawood has a tonal resonance of the same, East Indian Rosewood. The cream of African wood construction of acoustic guitars is African Blackwood, which is actually a rosewood. Dalbergia melanoxylon is dark purple to dark brown with black streaks. African Blackwood wood has a fine grain and polishes well and is said by some to be better than Brazilian Rosewood. African Blackwood tonewood has excellent response and Tapton is fantastic.

About the Author:

Andrew Ellis is the Head Luthier at Ellis Guitars, Perth, Western Australia. Ellis Guitars make fine handcrafted acoustic guitars and the Ellis Acoustic Stompbox. Website – www.ellisguitars.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – African Timbers – an Exotic Touch at Ellis Guitars