Okoumé Wood

Okoumé is an exception. In a lineup full of hard, dense woods, exotic by nature and by price, Aucoumea klaineana shows up with a Janka rating of just 400 lbf, soft, light, almost surprising for anyone who assumes a lutherie wood has to be tough by definition. And yet its lightness is exactly the point. It grows almost exclusively in Gabon and the equatorial forests of the Congo, and it's the only species in the entire Aucoumea genus, a wood with no close relatives, unique in the botanical world.

The color is warm and delicate: pale pink when freshly worked, shifting over time and with light exposure toward a more mature pinkish brown, with an almost pearly shimmer in some pieces. The grain is straight and even, the texture medium. It's the wood behind quality marine plywood, most premium boat panels are made of okoumé, chosen for its outstanding strength-to-weight ratio. In instrument making it's used for light electric guitar bodies, where the warm, resonant sound, often compared to mahogany, pairs with an ergonomics musicians notice immediately on stage after hours of playing. Ibanez is among the builders who've embraced it fully.

Despite its open pores, okoumé handles the laser surprisingly well: the surface responds evenly and the mark comes out clean on both medium strokes and finer details. Far from being a limitation, the wood's softness lets the laser work with precision without the resistance typical of harder woods.