| My first encounter with Sapele or "African Mahogany"
was in the late seventies when I was teaching guitar building. I
was looking for back & side sets that were readily available,
consistently blemish free, dimensionally stable and that possessed
a very lively tap tone. Sapele (Entandrophragma Cylindricum
) was the winner, hands down!
This hardwood is indigenous to the Ivory
Coast in Africa and when dimensioned for use as a guitar back or top,
even before strutting, exhibits one of the strongest gong-like tap
tones of any tonewood I've encountered!
Jean Larrivee has just released a Special
Edition of Sapele top guitars that fully takes advantage of Sapele's structural
& sonic properties. We have the OM-03, L-03 and LV-03E
versions in stock, complete with matte finish, tortoiseshell
pickguards, herringbone soundhole rosette, hand fit dovetail
neck joint, Larrivee symmetrical X-bracing, adjustable truss
rods, ebony fingerboard & bridge ... and of course the signature
Larrivee balance and response that he has built his considerable reputation
on! |
