A few months ago I was talking to Ervin Somogyi: a luthier whose guitars I love.  We were discussing various woods and generally geeking out.  Following a tip off, he had produced a guitar body out of Wenge (pronounced weng-ee).  Now I’ve made a few bass necks out of Wenge, and I know how hard it is.

The four neck stringers in this six string bass are Wenge. Truth is, it cost me a fortune in saw blades to cut them.  So I knew that the wood was very dense, but I had never considered building a guitar from it. This was because although Wenge has a dark, rich colour, it has almost no figure.

This guitar body he showed me was just an unfinished soundbox.  No neck attached.  I tapped the back and was astonished by the sound that emanated.  It is difficult to describe sounds in words, but this one was a clear, sustained, bell-like ring.  I don’t profess to predict the sound of a guitar just from tapping a piece of wood, but I do know what I am looking for.  A “lively” sound.  Proof that the wood has the ability to produce a note.  If it can do this, then the chances are that you will get a good guitar sound from it.  This guitar definitely had that – and some more besides.

In the case of Wenge, the properties of the wood that make it look boring are the very properties that make it sound great.  It has very tight, very straight grain, like the grain found in softwoods.  This uniformity means that it lacks the character, say, of a wild curly piece of maple. However, Wenge’s uniformity makes for a great-sounding guitar.

So I decided to experiment. I went out and bought the most perfectly quarter-sawn piece of Wenge I could find, joined it up to make a back plate and thicknessed it so that it would be extremely thin.  It’s a hard, stiff wood, so I can get it pretty thin; this should allow the back to move a lot.  This will add even more to the sound.

Now I’m thinking I’ll put some inlay in the back, to liven this guitar up a bit before it goes on sale.  I like my guitars to look a little exotic and, although I think this one will be perfect for the tone junkies out there, I also want to make it as striking as possible.

Here I’m gluing braces into the back.  I want this back to work as a single unit, hence the asterisk-style bracing.  As usual, I’ll be carving these braces to shape once they are on the guitar.  It’s so much easier to detect what influence your shaping is having on the guitar if they are attached to it when you work on them.

I’ll let you know how it sounds when it’s complete.  Obviously, for an independent view, you’ll have to come by and try it yourself.  The way the woods are sounding when I tap them, I think you’d probably better bring your cheque book if you do…

I am currently making a 00 acoustic guitar out of Brazilian Rosewood.  The wood was cut a long time ago and looks quite dull; but with a finish on, its rich chocolate browns are accentuated.  I love the look of this sapwood, as I really like contrasts.  Brazilian tends to have a thin black pencil line between the heart and sap, which makes the sap stand out even more.  Beautiful.  It has a bell-like quality when tapped, and I think it’s going to sound pretty good.

Often cited as the holy grail of guitar making, Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia Nigra) is highly sought after.  It can be stunningly beautiful, but it is most prized because of it’s tone.

It is impossible to pin down woods and tones: no two pieces of wood are the same, and all guitar makers make their guitars differently.  You can open yourself up to criticism by stating what a piece of wood will sound like, based only on species – because you also have to take into account that everyone listens to tone differently.

It seems to me that when it comes to wood, the only subject upon which many of us are in agreement is that Brazilian Rosewood is the best possible choice for the back and sides of an acoustic guitar.  It is certainly true that my three favourite guitars have been made from Brazilian Rosewood.  (I’m not including guitars made by me here,  because I find it impossible to be objective about them.  I’ll sit there thinking, “Is this guitar too quiet?” when it is deafening.  I suppose being hypercritical is a good thing, but it doesn’t help my nerves…)

The problem with Brazilian is that it is illegal.  Let me explain.  It has a conservation status of “vulnerable” and although this is the lowest grade in the “threatened” catagory, it is still sufficiently endangered for it to be CITES listed (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). As such it is illegal – not to mention unethical – to trade in the stuff.

Having said that, I am a great fan of recycling, and am concious of my moral responsibility as a woodworker to make sure that every material I use is ethically sound.  Such scruples can prove difficult and expensive, but it is possible to buy recycled (or “reclaimed”) timber. If the timber was cut before the wood was banned, you can make guitars from it.  It is likely that many guitars out there made from Brazilian Rosewood were once used to clad the interiors of hotels in the 20s and 30s.

Here’s the prepared frame for my Brazilian Rosewood 00.  I removed the side spreaders so that you can see it.  Once I’ve got the braces on, I’ll glue the top in, then start carving and shaping the braces.

This is one guitar I am really looking forward to hearing.  I just hope I can be more objective about it.