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I've got a line on some nice zebrawood, almost quartered, that I can resaw into back and sides if there's interest.

Who has built with this wood? Who likes it? Any other considerations? Thanks.

Built my first with it, and it was just fine. A little difficult to thickness with planes, and the smell isn't the most pleasant, but it makes a good guitar. Mine was/is a classical.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I like it, used it for #6 and as accents on several pieces of furniture.

It can be a porous at the boundry between the light (soft) and dark (hard). If this is too bad it will be a little splintery/unstable, but if you do a good job selecting it can be nice to work with and has reasonably similar hardness between the light and dark areas. It is nearly always available quartersawn at specalty lumber places because the quartersawn face shows the stripes best.

The smell is a bit unpleasant, but it fades away quickly when you stop resawing or sanding.

goes nicely with Imbuya bindings and a Madrose fretboard/bridge and finishes nicely if you avoid the porous stuff.

-jd

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Rob

I have only used Zebrawood once for a small Jumbo. Paired with a Cedar top, it sounded & looked great. I will definitely use it again.
I found it a little difficult to work. The interlocking grain tends to tear when using a plane & it is quite splintery.
When bending, I suggest using as little water as possible. On my set, the pale stripes tended to cup, while the darker areas bent smoothly. It took lots of sanding to get the sides (relatively) even.

I have not used it yet but I have an amazing looking set in my stash from RCTonewoods.

For those who have built with it, what did you pair it with?

Neil

Hey:
I like it, has a nice tone, in my opinion. Junior is in Afganistan and has requested a dread with a cutout out of Zebrawood. I'll start it next month, still have about 9 months to finish it.
My first build was Zebrawood. I like to make bindings from it but it bends weird in that some spots are harder to bend than others. Splinters are a problem, sharp little boogers.
I put on a yellow cedar top, real punchey, the harder you play it the better it sounds.
Bill

So Neil... It was YOU who beat me to that set!!!
Good score!

I really enjoyed it. I felt like it worked easier than EIR and the appearance was quite striking. The person I made it for really wanted a contrasting wood pattern. I paired it with redwood to help warm it up and retain a quick response.

Wow - now that's a very interesting set. That'll make a very striking guitar.