Prospective Zambian tonewoods for dreadnought acoustic guitar

Abstract

Some imported guitars and others made in Zambia exhibit poor sound quality and properties. Zambia grown timbers were evaluated for their suitability as tonewoods. Pinus kesiya was suitable for soundboard as it had brighter appearance and best radiation coefficient 7.3 m⁴ s⁻¹ kg. Its lower impedance 2733 Nmm² s m³ gives better sustain. Pterocarpus angolensis was used for the back and sides as it was very stable, volumetric shrinkage 5.4%, and low impedance, 2,298 Nmm² s m³ which reduced loudness. This species was also used for the neck. Baikiaea plurijuga was employed in fretboard and bridge construction as it was appreciably hard with Brinell hardness rating of 6.05 kN. A guitar made using the selected timbers was tested qualitatively. The Reference and the Experimental guitar attained the same score demonstrating improvements attributable to systematic wood selection. The study established that the quality of locally made guitars could be improved significantly if luthiers adopt appropriate wood selection criteria.