What is Sapele wood on guitar?

Sapele is a hardwood tonewood with fine grain. It offers a warm tone with sustaining lower-mids and pronounced high-end. Sapele is popular in the sides/backs of acoustic and hollowbody electric guitars but doesn't see much use in solid bodies, fretboards or necks.

Is Sapele good wood for guitars?

With sapele, you'll notice a strong low-end and midrange bark, very similar to mahogany, but it delivers more top-end definition than its African counterpart. That makes it a highly versatile wood for an acoustic guitar, ideal for a number of styles.

What does Sapele wood sound like?

Sounds: much like Mahogany but due to the hardness, a little brighter, just a little... to some ears. Looks: The coloring is spot on to many shades of mahogany that we see. It's also practically indistinguishable from Mahogany in terms of how the grain appears.

How good is Sapele wood?

The texture of the grain is interlocked and sometimes wavy, with a fine uniform texture and good natural luster. Sapele has a distinct, cedar-like scent while being worked. The hardness, medium density, and propensity for straight grained boles, makes Sapele wood very stable.

Is Sapele cheap wood?

Today, Sapele is still readily available for purchase at a much cheaper level than Mahogany, in both lumber and veneer form. Because of its increased popularity and regular use as a substitute for Mahogany, this wood type is sometimes referred today as “ Sapele Mahogany.”

Sapele vs Mahogany: A Comprehensive Review

Is Sapele a hardwood or softwood?

What is Sapele? Sapele timber, predominantly from West Africa, is a reddish-brown hardwood. Although some parts of the Sapele logs will produce straight-grain or 'quartered' effect, generally it has a more random grain appearance, thus meaning it is liable to interlocked grain.

Is Sapele a tonewood?

Sapele is a hardwood tonewood with fine grain. It offers a warm tone with sustaining lower-mids and pronounced high-end. Sapele is popular in the sides/backs of acoustic and hollowbody electric guitars but doesn't see much use in solid bodies, fretboards or necks.

What wood is best for guitar fretboard?

What wood is best for acoustic guitar?

Does Sapele wood warp?

Drying & shrinkage: Sapele seasons fairly rapidly with a marked tendency to warp, is very variable in drying properties and requires careful stacking.

Is Sapele wood waterproof?

Caring for Sapele.

Sapele has a high resistance to rot and water damage, but will also benefit from extra protection. Treatments will also enhance the beauty of this wood. The colour will naturally deepen over time if exposed to light.

What is the lightest guitar wood?

Basswood is a lightweight tonewood that is relatively soft compared to other woods listed in this article, but it's abundant and therefore relatively cheap. Because of its soft and lightweight nature, it's never used as a laminate material, or on necks or fretboards.

What kind of rosewood does Gibson use?

North American rosewood is also used by Gibson — it's a trustworthy source and sustainable. Madagascan and Amazonian Rosewood is also widely used. * Brazilian Rosewood is unusual these days, because of rarity and exorbitant cost.

Does guitar neck wood matter?

The neck wood affects the tone of a guitar by impacting the way that the vibrations produced by the strings behave. Denser neck woods, like maple sound brighter and have less sustain. Mahogany on the other hand, produces a warmer and darker tone with better resonance and sustain.

Is Sapele stronger than oak?

Sapele is much harder than African or American mahogany, and in resistance to indentation, bending strength, stiffness, and resistance to shock loads, is practically equal with English oak. It machines well but the interlocked grain can cause problems with chipping.

What is Sapele known for?

Sapele is also known for the rubber plantations in the vicinity. Its industry became more diversified in the 1960s with factories for making shoes, tiles, plastics, and chemicals. Sapele is a local market centre in cassava (manioc), fish, palm oil and kernels, yams, and plantains, and it has a flour-milling plant.

Can you paint Sapele wood?

If so Sapele is an outstanding African hardwood perfect for exterior grade projects so Sapele also serves as a great substrate for painted surfaces.

How do you seal sapele wood?

Does sapele darken over time?

Yes, sapele darkens over time. It goes to a rich brown with much less red in it than mahogany (the real stuff, not khaya) or American cherry.

Is African Mahogany also called sapele?

It is occasionally used as a substitute for Genuine Mahogany, and is sometimes referred to as “Sapele Mahogany.” Technically, the two genera that are commonly associated with mahogany are Swietenia and Khaya, while Sapele is in the Entandrophragma genus, but all three are included in the broader Meliaceae family, so ...

Is Sapele insect resistant?

In terms of durability, sapele is known for moderately durable to very sturdy against decay resistance with moderate rating for insect/borer resistance. Sapele can be troublesome to work in various machine operations, (i.e., planing, routing, etc.), resulting in tearout due to its interlocked grain.