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I acquired a couple of nice back and side sets. Never used it. Anybody built with this stuff? Impressions? Sounds like it is a good tonewood.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Terry the other name is Shedua or african rosewood ,I/ve used it for headstock veneer on CL and made a few backs that are glued up panels , but have not made a guitar out of it yet, density is close to EIR,with an olive cast to it, I/d say go for it !

I've only built one guitar with it. A dreadnaught and it sounded great. I would build with it again without question but it seems a bit hard to source out here in BC, Canada, with our Cdn dollar in the tank and the cost of shipping from the US, it's no longer that affordable. I don't normally build dreds but that one sounded very good without the dark tone of eir, a nice balanced sound overall, and not bad to work with. Pore filling was a bit more of a job than most rose woods but it looked great under nitro which is the finish I was using at that time.
Sorry I don't have any photos as the guitar sold to the first person that played it and I just didn't have it long enough to get some shots of it.
Cheers, Cal

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

Standard wood for Taylor in the 300 level stuff (I think they've changed the numbering system more recently?) I've resawn some sets from a big board I got, and have many more sets to go, but I've never used it yet. i like how it looks and feels.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I bought a few sets last summer when I was visiting Sergei DeJonge's shop. According to Sergei, 'It makes killer guitars'.
Haven't had a chance to use it yet. I did see a Youtube video with a Spanish guitarist comparing a IRW,BRW and an Ovangkol guitars
and the Ovangkol came out on top. All three the same model and same builder.
Cal, if you can resaw, A&M Woods in Cambridge On carries it. I bought a 2" board a few months ago that should yield a dozen or so
B&S sets as well as some fretboards and bridges for about $380.00 CDN. I haven't got my bandsaw set up yet, but I'm hoping
soon.

Brent

Fine woods has a few sets of ovangkol priced in Cdn $'s. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. https://www.woodtoworks.com/Other-Back- ... _c_35.html

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I'm half way through building a tenor guitar with Ovangkol (Hyedua here in the UK).

I picked the plank up years ago after trolling through a local hardwood suppliers off cuts because it rang like a bell when struck.

It's very hard stuff. Slow to bandsaw and very slow if you choose to hand plane. Also very prone to tear out due to the wild grain in my piece.

I was trepidatious about bending it, but it actually bent very easily for me.

I'm looking forward to seeing it under a gloss finish.

So overall it has its difficulties but I think it will be wortht He effort. Go for it.

Did several, GA I think, some years back. Don't recall any issues in bending and yes, it takes quite a bit of pore filling. The thing I do remember is that it smells like dog poop while sanding and scraping.
Happy building
Tom Armstrong

Did one recently, similar properties to EIR. GA size falcate braced.
Ken

I'm building with some great Ovangkol now. It was quite green when I bought it from Madinter a few years back so had to store it to dry.

Smells like wet dog when worked with. I can't smell it now, used to it!

Sharpened hand planes doesn't even touch this stuff - terrible tearout at whatever angle I create the cutting edge.
I've had to make do with card scrapers. I have the time as an amatuer builder and don't have the setup for mechanical thicknessing.

Very nice wood!
I made an OM 2 years ago, the cheapest guitar I have ever made (I bought the set 35$ on ebay..) and the best guitar I made, according to the people who played it.
I remember it had a lot of springback in the sides, and the smell was terrible.. like old garbage!
I had some trouble thicknessing it by hand plane also, the grain was crazy.




bye

Q.