Pink Ivory Ariel

I think Pink Ivory (Berchemia Zeyheri) must be the rarest wood that is not commercially restricted - at least, not yet.  It is the "king of woods", and traditionally used by Zulu chiefs.  It is quite definitely, very pink. Maybe because of that, it doesn’t suit everyone, but at Ullapool this year, this was the guitar that everyone wanted to play. 

The wood I used for this guitar was highly figured, and was big enough to make quite a large guitar, but the figure did not extend all across the back, and as with all of this timber, there were quite a few pin knots and small flaws over the surface.  I was able to remove nearly all these, leaving an almost perfect back and sides.  Despite my best efforts, there are three very tiny “drop outs” where I have spliced in new matching pieces at the edge of the sides.  It’s a challenge to find them though.

I used the reddest piece of Sinker Redwood that I had in stock for the soundboard, plus Brazilian Tulipwood with black lines for the bindings, just trying to have everything match. The neck is mahogany with a central lamination of Bubinga framed by black lines.  Striking and beautiful.
The contrast between the timber of the neck and the body points up the perfectly clean line where the heel meets the sides. I’m not trying to boast about workmanship, all our neck joints are like that, but its something that caught my eye very strongly this time.