My guitars are built with cured woods of the highest quality. Relative humidity is kept under constant control throughout the wood carving process, so as to ensure optimal instrument stability. I mainly use the following types of wood:
Maple (Acer pseudoplatanus): this tree is rather spread all over Europe. The highest quality timber comes from the Balkan region (Bosnia, Croatia and Romania). It has always been used in both modern and ancient classic violin-making to build back plates, ribs and necks. It is rather hard, light, compact and very elastic. It is clear and bright. The grain of its finest wood shimmering at the sunlight makes the musical instruments elegant and facilitates sound transmission.
Spruce (Picea excelsa): it is a European conifer with unique acoustic features. It grows spontaneously in the mountain regions of the Alps. The spruce, traditionally used to build string and plucked string instruments comes from the Eastern and Bavarian Alps, specifically from the so called “Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme”. It is very elastic and incredibly light with a straight and regular grain pattern. It is excellent for building top plates (bellies or soundboards) and all the structural parts of the resonant box (blocks, bass bars and ribs).
Red cedar (Thuja plicata): it is another conifer used as an alternative to the spruce for its timbre. It is employed for very warm and rich sound fronts. Growing in Canada, its golden brown color has a straight and regular grain. Despite being soft and light, it is very compact and can be easily carved.
Cedrela (Cedrela odorata): aromatic and light wood with large and narrow pores. It grows in Southern and Central America. It is durable and warp resistant and it has very straight grain. Its color ranges from dark brown to dark pink. It is ideal for the neck and all the structural parts of the guitar.
Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens): it’s a European wood traditionally used for flamenco guitars back plates, ribs and necks. Its color is straw yellow and does not have any aesthetic peculiar features. It is aromatic, light, and rather elastic. It gives the instrument bodies a ready acoustic response with a rather nasal timbre.
Ebony (Diospyros crassiflora): it grows in Central and Western Africa. It is hard, compact, and sweat resistant. It is mainly used for keyboards. Its natural color is black but it may have either dark brown or dark pink grain.
Walnut (Juglans regia): it grows in Europe, America and Western Asia. Its grain may be straight or rather wavy with coarse texture. It is used for the backs and ribs of classical, acoustic and flamenco guitars. Its color is eneven and it ranges from light yellow to dark brown. It is very beautiful to look at, given its highly contrasting grain. Its timbre characteristics are similar to cypress.
Brasilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra): it is a tree threatened with extinction; therefore it is scarcely available. It’s a highly resonant wood. Its color ranges from light to dark brown tending to black. It has always been used to build guitars, keyboards, plates, ribs and bridges.
Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia): it is a very good alternative to the Brasilian rosewood. Its acoustic quality is really good. It is very stable and wood resistant. Its color ranges from purple to dark brown. It has several fibers and large, deep pores. Hard, dense but not very heavy, it can be used for back plates, ribs, bridges and keyboards.