Back & Sides
Mahogany
Botanic name: Entandrophragma cylindricum
Origin: West Africa
Properties: warm and well-balanced sound with soft basses, present mid range and comfortably gentle trebles
Red-brownish color with fine texture, interlocked grain plays with colors in certain light conditions
Ovangkol
Botanic name: Guibourtia ehie
Origin: West Africa
Properties: strong bass with clear harmonics
Yellow-brown, sometimes almost golden color with obvious growth lines and a tiny hue of green
Indian rosewood AA
Botanic name: Dalbergia latifolia
Origin: India and Pakistan
Properties: soundwise like AAA rosewood
Basic color like AAA rosewood, but with a few more (sometimes irregular) stripes. Sometimes also with a stronger red hue
Indian rosewood AAA
Botanic name: Dalbergia latifolia
Origin: India and Pakistan
Properties: powerful transparent tone with strong basses and prominent trebles. The sonic properties of Indian rosewood are widely considered as a basic reference in the guitar world.
Brown with sometimes purple shades with straight annual rings
Cypress
Botanic name: Taxodinum distichum
Origin: Turkey
Properties: Warm tone with rich harmonics and very quick response
Golden-yellow color with subtle, straight annual rings
Noticeable sweet smell
The usage of Cypress for steel string guitars may seem unusual, but it works surprisingly well!
Ziricote
Botanic name: Cordia dodecandra
Origin: Mexico
Properties: Complex and expressive characterful tone in low and high frets with a good balance between strong bass frequencies, comfortable mids and shining trebles. Very good response with the right amount of harmonics and a dynamic range that exceeds the necessary.
Brown basic color with sometimes a shade of green. The texture is formed by remarkable dark-brown lines, that go wavy and overlapping each other across the surface.
Myrtle
Botanic name: Umbellularia californica
Origin: Northwest of the USA
Properties: smooth and even sound with quick response and especially delicate and silvery trebles
Yellow-brownish base color with strong texture and darker lines. Myrtle can look pretty 'wild' and sometimes gets distinctive dark spots or 'stains' within the grain
Cocobolo
Botanic name: Dalbergia retusa
Origin: Mexico, Guatemala
Properties: Clear and almost compressed sound with strong basses. The tone has got a high transparency with broad harmonics spectrum. Strings get a good sustain with wide dynamic range.
Red color with reddish shades and exciting dark lines
The weight of cocobolo is a little heavier
Koa
Botanic name: Acacia koa
Origin: Hawaii
Properties: Warm and punchy sound with delicate trebles and not too strong basses
Brown color with exciting dark-brown lines and flames
Flamed maple
Botanic name: Acer pseudoplatanus
Origin: Austria, Switzerland, Scottland
Properties: Sweet singing tone with rich mids, not too much bass and subtle trebles
Flamed maple is basically a 'normal' kind of maple. The so-called flames are caused by the weight of the tree itself. In the years of growth the lower log sections get compressed, which makes the fibers grow wavy. Those waves produce the flames in the eye of the beholder.
The tone of an acoustic guitar is significantly influenced by the woods used. This applies particularly to the sound board, the sides and the back. So, in the selection of your guitar you might wish to do so by way of these elements, if you have experience of the tonal qualities of the various wood types. On this page you will find a list of tone woods utilized in the construction of our model range.
AAA European spruce
AAAA European spruce
AAA Cedar
