Spruce Ramirez Estudio

[keith]

well i got to eat a little crow here and wash it down with some sherry (pun intended). someone posted a week or two ago that they played a ramirez estudio that had the "R" series headstock and a spruce top. the letter "S" was written on the label. the poster wondered if this was a real ramirez estudio. i jokingly said the "S" was probably for sherry-brener. well last night i went to guitar center to see if they had any cardboard boxes used to ship guitar cases and lo and behold, on the wall was a ramirez R1 spruce guitar.

i played it for 5 minutes: it is a R-1! nothing more, nothing less. the tone is bright and one could, in a pinch, use it as a negra.

[C. Vega]

There is a picture and a brief description of this guitar in the latest issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
It is dubbed the S-1 and, according to the magazine, is being made only for the American market.
The back and sides are of a wood called mongoy (laminated?).
Mongoy is an African hardwood of the genus Guibourtia and is also known as ovangkol, shedua, ehie and a few other common/colloquial names.

[keith]

c.vega: i thought the wood used on the s-1 did not look like the mahogeny they use to use for the r-1. i have seen that wood before on esteve guitars. guess mahagoney is getting more difficult to find or is becoming more expensive because of the difficulty. i have heard rumors that south american mahogeny may soon join brazillian rosewood on the banned list. any truth to that?

[C. Vega]

A number of manufacturers use mongoy/ovangkol/ehie for backs and sides. I've also seen it used as a fingerboard material on less expensive guitars.

Supposedly the South American/Honduras mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is destined for the CITES no-no list but I doubt that the restrictions will be anywhere near as tight as those for Brazilian rosewood, at least for now. Most of the "Honduras" mahogany actually comes from Brazil and Peru these days. It still seems to be quite readily available and prices are reasonable. Though the quality overall seems to be lower than in years past, there still high grade wood available.

The stuff used in thr R-1 is what is known as African mahogany which is of the genus Khaya. The term is also used for the wood commonly known as Sapele (Entandrophragma cylindricum) which is not a true mahogany. I haven't seen anything about pending restrictions on these woods.