"Taylor’s ownership stake in an ebony mill in Cameroon has made the African wood a hot topic this past year. While most of the conversation has centered on sourcing and processing ebony for fretboards, bridges and other instrument parts, our mill co-owner, Madinter, recently managed to procure a sapwood-rich ebony tree that was big enough to be cut into back and side sets. The moment we saw them, we knew they would make a striking limited edition series. Visually, wide swaths of sapwood conjure a yin-yang effect of darkness and light, while fluid edge lines bend the bookmatched symmetry into captivating abstract art. Of the 300 sets that were available, each is beautifully unique. The tree came from Congo, a country that shares a border with Cameroon. While the country typically isn’t a viable source point for sustainable ebony, this particular tree was legally harvested from a managed forest and certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and SGS, an international inspection, verification, testing and certification company. Compared to the Macassar ebony we’ve used in recent years for guitar backs and sides, this species — the same African ebony we use for fretboards and bridges — has a higher density, which translates into subtletonal differences. “Tonally, it shares a little of Macassar’s low-end damping factor,” says Taylor master luthier Andy Powers. “Macassar has a pretty clear sound, while also being fairly overtoneheavy. This African ebony has a really rich, ringing character with a linear quality across the tonal spectrum — no particular frequencies are accentuated over others.”
