Honduras mahogany guitar soundboard grade CAAA

Honduras mahogany guitar soundboard grade CAAA.

Swietenia macrophylla sourced from Central and South America.

Split from the log and sawn to reduce short grain and enhance quarter sawing.

It is a measure of just how fine a tonewood mahogany can be in that it has been successfully used as a soundboard material by some of the best guitar factories in the world.

We apply the same attention to detail as we do with spruce and cedar soundboards. To be offered as a soundboard the wood must be light weight, free from interlocked grain and well quarter cut.

Grading rules are as we use for back and sides sets.

AAA – Quarter sawn wood or nearly so.

AA – Wood that is quartered to one edge, (where the centre joint of the back will be ), gradually straying from the quarter ending up slab sawn at the opposite edge.

A – Wood that is slab sawn, the main slab sawn area being approximately half way across the board.

* - One or more asterisks may be added to the grade mark to indicate wood that is aesthetically more pleasing or desirable by virtue of colour, intensity of figure or fineness of grain.

Back and sides sets are pre matched for colour and character.

Back and sides sets frequently are different grades for the back and the sides e.g. AAA sides and AA back. The valuation of these sets assumes the back and the sides each represent 50% of the value of a set and are then added together.

Classic size – 2pc 550 x 195 and up x 4.5mm
Western sizes – 2pc 580 x 205 and up x 4.5mm
Archtop sizes – 2pc 550 x 205 and up x 25mm – 9mm