Between the Leonardo Project and general worries about CITES, non-tropical woods are becoming more popular among guitar-makers. The next step is convincing the buyers that these guitar are just as good. Keep in mind that what makes the sound of a guitar is the maker’s skill and the way he chooses to work and that the only make or break component of the guitar is the top which is non-tropical anyway. What convinces me most about using non-tropical woods is the fact that period instrument makers have been doing it for centuries. Pear, cherry, oak, boxwood, walnut, maple and a hundred other nice hard and beautiful woods are used for great-sounding instruments.

I stocked up on plentiful cypress, maple and Indian rosewood many years ago and of course have the CITES papers for the rosewood but I think more people might be asking for something different. Here are my latest aquisitions: Thanks to guitar-maker Youri Soroka for the european walnut, the alder, the american walnut and the cherry. The very figured piece is olive wood from Spain cut by an amateur maker here.