Below is a list of the woods that I use in constructing my guitars:
Soundboards – redwood (old growth), sitka spruce and western red cedar.
Backs and sides – mostly African mahogany, but I also use pod mahogany, African ironwood and hard pear. Some of these trees are often very old, and they grow very slowly.
Necks – African mahogany.
Bridges – African ironwood (leadwood).
Bindings/inlays – Honduran/African mahogany, white ironwood, maple, African blackwood and Zimbabwean teak.
Rosettes – are often African ethnic in design, based on African textile designs such as the Ashanti textiles of Central Africa. I use the traditional turnbridgeware method in constructing my rosettes. Besides using rare African woods in my rosettes, I also use other materials such as African soapstone and Corian.
Finishing – I use the time honoured method of spraying my guitars with nitro cellulose lacquer. Nitro cellulose gives the instruments a beautiful light orange/brown colour with time. No catalytic finishes are used.
Data – all my guitars have a detailed data sheet. Everything done in building an instrument is recorded, and this information can be supplied to the owner if requested.
