QUILTED SAPELE - Entandrophragma cylindricum - A very unlikely tonewood - Tommy's Tonewood

Welcome back Wood Lovers! Today at the Tom Sands Guitars workshop we dive back in the tonewood stash and take a look at a very blingy tonewood. This is quilted or blistered or pomelle Sapele, Entandrophragma cylindricum from the tropical regions of Africa.
On the face of it, this timber shouldn't make the great sounding guitars that it does. Paired with careful bracing and back voicing, sapele can yield a wonderfully resonant and responsive acoustic guitar. The wild grain really POPs under lacquer (and magic spray) for an extremely attractive look.
I really like to pair sapele with sitka spruce an example of which can be found here...
www.tomsandsgui...
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[@andrewbowen8122]

Ooooouuuufff as well as costly, must of been terrifying shipping such lovely woods back to the U.K.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

there was a lot of hoping and praying!

[@davej3736]

Thanks so much for the insight...my wife and I both own Taylor GS Minis...both spruce top, hers is rosewood back and sides, mine sapele back and sides. Exact same strings, and I wish my sound engineering skills were good enough (ya, like I have any) that I could record both for comparison, but IMHO, and to MY ear, mine sounds like it has warmer and louder mids, but hard to tell.

[@mountfairweather]

Great in depth talk. My ukulele is made of this wood. It sounds fantastic 😊

[@LouColon]

Thank you for a very informative explanation of this unique wood. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us.

[@alexryder2046]

Certainly one of the most beautiful Tonewoods. I am fortunate to have a few sets that look somewhat like the "tree" in terms of overall figure. I am hoping to build one this year in this wood. Great sounding stuff too

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Couldn't agree more!

[@sbolfing]

I clicked on your link to the MMD and listened to the sound clip - wow! Absolutely stunning to look at and beautiful tones. I liked that part about "voicing the back." It's something I heard Dana Bourgeois mention - I think he is experimenting with some novel back bracing. Cool stuff!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Yay, thank you!

[@TH-mw3qv]

I bought a martin guitar made with this wood. Its beautiful and shimmers and is extremely responsive. There is alot of bracing inside the guitar. I understand why now. The top of the guitar is almost like a drum. Very flexible. Its great for mids and fingerstyle. Has alot of resonance. A surprisingly toneful wood.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Very nice!

[@jimdoner3443]

At one time I had 2 limited edition 200 series Taylors, a 6 string and a 12 string. Solid Sapele back and sides, Engleman Spruce tops. Awesome guitars , unfortunate circumstances led me to selling them.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I can help you with a replacement…!

[@barryoconnor4635]

Hi I am a budding Luthier and am currently on guitar number 5. I have acquired a set very similar to this (possibly from the same Ebay seller) I have worked with Chechen, Brazilian Rosewood, Cocobolo, Honduras Mahogany and currently building an Indian Rosewood guitar. I'm fretting a bit over my next project which will be a quilted sapele. I would love if you could give some more detail on the back bracing you mentioned and also tuning the back. On my Cocobolo and Mahogany guitars I used an x braced back but I have no idea where to go with this one. Any pointers would be appreciated.

[@davidarnold6376]

I feel sapele makes for a very nice wood for dreads especially....! I feel it is very balanced depending on the spruce use on top, It has a tone of resonance and can be very loud and defined string to string. I think mating it to a bit thicker spruce top controls some of it's brightness of course depending on the bracing design.

[@JR-qe1kh]

Would you do another episode on back and top bracing with lattice bracing? Explaining what you are doing with it and what it does for the sound? Great videos!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Great idea!

[@chickadee4901]

So beautiful! What would be approximate price for your guitar with quilted sapele back and side?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Drop me an email, [e-mail] 🙏

[@chickadee4901]

@@TomSandsGuitars I have sent you an email today. I am Wenzhi

[@rtroiani]

I’m making an electric and found a guitar blank of figured Sapele I couldn’t pass up. I’m pairing it with a Quilted Maple top. I’ve never worked with figured Sapele, so would I stain black and sand back for grain pop like quilted, or just leave it as-is and clear?

[@Pikearea]

Bought a Martin 000-15M. It is clearly not mahogany. Martin wrote that it is either sapele or sipo. I paid $1499 for mahogany and got a substitute! Sounds great but it is not mahogany! Thoughts on how I can determine what type of woods are used?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

You’re not the first person to ask me this. What year is it? At that price point, I doubt it will be genuine mahogany. Sapele is often referred to as sapele mahogany, but it isn’t part of the swietenia genus. Check out this article. www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/mahogany-mixups-the-lowdown/ My general thoughts on this are, if you like the sound? Does it matter? Cheers!

[@RemoSforza]

Hi Tom, how the wood for the back and sides influence the final sound of the guitar? Thanks

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Totally depends on the luthier and the combination of top and back woods. When you're building with an active back its really worth paying attention to the wood choices. Differences in sound are subtle for sure but if you're listening closely and familiar with a luthiers work, you'll soon hear them. thanks for watching and for commenting! I really appreciate it.

[@RonMack07]

Beautiful

[@kevingreene6893]

Lovely set of tone wood... very nicely figured. It has a soft dryness with the tone decaying rapidly - leaving an overall woody quality behind with a little shimmer therein. The top will be significant in the final tone, perhaps with more of a lively quality from a spruce, while a cedar will emanate a fireside warmth throughout. This will make a nice finger style guitar with clear, articulate notes, nicely focused with space to breath. Be interesting to see & hear the final guitar played. Interesting overview of the bracing value - would love more detail on this area as the series progresses. Enjoying these videos Tom, appreciated!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Some lovely thoughts, nicely articulated there Kevin!

[@Mike-kl1qc]

I’m feeling crazy, could you use that as a top? Would it sound like a gram cracker?

[@amirgad4635]

Thanks for the videos! Would you expect quilted sapele to behave differently than non quilted sapele, acoustically speaking? I mean, is there a noticeable difference, more than the average difference you'll have between each two different pieces of the same specie?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

They'd behave quite differently just because of how the grain runs.

[@dannymeegan8478]

Very informative as always! Such a beautiful looking wood. I've never had the luxury of playing one though!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

hopefully one day, Danny! thanks for watching and for the suggestion!

[@noahhormann7038]

Oh my god I knew I loved you. GO HAWKS!

[@TomSandsGuitars]

🥰

[@paulboden7850]

Cheap guitars have given Sapele a bad name. It would be interesting to compare the tone with mahogany in two high end guitars.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

I agree! i think I might be able to do that pretty soon!

[@tommysixstring5094]

​@@TomSandsGuitarsdid you manage this... Link? :)

[@dalgguitars]

like fierworks!

[@vanrozay8871]

Seems likely to sound like mahogany, which is fine.

[@jamesparker1063]

years ago, @ archit, millwork shop, we did int. woodwork, for owners "pad"....this included a veneer log of Sapele pommele', about 15" wide, about 8-9' long, maybe 10" thick,,,this material was absolutely CORRUGATED! I have never seen it's equal...if you held it up to the light, you could "see through" where the curls were! Being the wood-aholic/scavenger I am, I scooped up EVERY "waste" material I could.....I still have some.......

[@kennyh5083]

You are uninformed, sapele has been used in guitar building for ages, how is that an unlikely tonewood?

[@TomSandsGuitars]

You are rude. 🙂

[@corporeidad]

I guess the unlikely one he's talking about it's not the sapele, but the *quilted* sapele.

[@pedrothewise2584]

wouldnt touch it.not ethical to cut african hardwood.much prettier in the forrest.

[@TomSandsGuitars]

Pretty sweeping statement there old fruity.