About Us / Available Acoustic Guitars / Sound Samples / Gallery / Woods / Care / Contact Us / Home

Tonewoods
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Dao |
The particular wood produces a very subtle tone and lends itself well for singer/player. It blends with voice well and loves to be finger picked. A light touch brings out its beatiful tonal qualities. A flat pick will show off its quick attack and brightness. | |
| Ebony | Kamagong is an endangered species and we have very limited quantities on hand from very old stock. It's tone is quite remarkable, producing clarity and clean trebles, mids, and still producing a deep clear bass. | |
| Mahogany | The Philippines mahogany we use is planted genuine mahogany, not to be confused with native Philippines mahogany. It has slightly different qualities when grown in the climate here, producing slightly more trebles while maintaining that true mahogany warmth. | |
| Mango | Mangifera Indica L. is a wood that is underated in the guitar industry. It produces a warm mahogany sound in the mids while maintaining clear highs and lows. Although it looks fantastic, the true reason we use it is for its tone. We quartersaw our own stock and choose according to stiffness and grain, then combine that with a choice top that brings out the best in that particular set. Good stock is hard to come by and requires much preparation in the drying process. | |
Panganto-on |
A light colored wood used for bindings and inlays. | |
| Spanish Cedar | This is our choice for neck woods for steel and nylon guitars because of its high stability. A very versatile body wood for classicals and arch tops. | |
| Langka | "Jackfruit" wood is extensively used here in the Philippines for guitar backs and sides, even tops. It produces a very good sustain. We incorporate it into bindings and most often our unique, five piece laminated neck. | |
| Black Walnut | A very beatiful wood that works nicely with englemann spruce for a full bodied sound, very breathy and low frequencies across the board. | |
| Mulave | A highly figured, light colored wood used for bindings. | |
| Sitka Spruce | Has a wonderful balance in highs, mids and lows. It can be flat picked hard and notes remain clear. A very durable top wood. | |
| Englemann Spruce | A little less in the mids than sitka, lends itsef well for finger-style and light flat picking. Has good lows and brilliant overtone harmonics. | |
| Red Cedar | A very stable wood with humidity changes, wonderful clarity with focused lows. Very brilliant with good sustain. Is softer than spruce therefore requires extra care. | |
| Philippines Koa | Koa planted in the Philippines from Hawaii. Just grown under different climatic conditions. Very clear, clean and balanced. Very limited supplies. | |
| Hawaiian Koa | Slightly more focused and crisp than Philippines koa. A truly beautiful wood. | |
| Narra | The national tree of the Philippines. Resembles Hawaiian koa in sound and beauty, but with a slighly brighter tone. | |
| Robles | Robles has a warm woody sound It's sapwood is pale rose in color, while the heartwood color ranges from golden brown to dark chestnut brown. It has medium luster and texture, and straight to closely interlocked grain. Robles glues, finishes, and polishes well, and responds well to hand tools. | ![]() |
| Eucalyptus | Eucalyptus spp. is a wood that we have been testing for some time now and has a very interesting appearance and tonal qualities. More on this as we progress. |