Takamine

News flash: guitars in the modern era are made of many different kinds of wood, and the choice of wood — especially in and acoustic or acoustic-electric guitars — has a huge impact on the tone and responsiveness of the instrument. While most musicians tend to think of just a few wood types for use in acoustic guitar bodies, there are many other terrific wood varieties that each present their own advantages. Today, we’ll be getting into the details of a terrific tonewood called okoume.

Just the Facts
Scientifically speaking, this wood is called Aucoumea klaineana, and it’s found in equatorial west Africa in Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and Río Muni. This tree is pretty big; they grow as high as 130 feet, and have trunks up to eight feet in diameter. This wood has been used in higher-end acoustic guitars for many years due to its great-looking color and grain — which can be so similar to mahogany that it can be difficult to immediately differentiate them based on visual inspection alone. Side note: okoume is also known in various work working trades as angouma, akoumé, equatorial mahogany, or gaboon, but it’s all the same material.

Takamine G Series GD30CE-12

Takamine G Series GN20CE

How Does It Sound?
Here’s where okoume is definitely different from mahogany. While it still imparts the warmth one expects from a guitar with mahogany back and sides, okoume offers a rich and resonant response with excellent midrange representation.

Takamine currently offers two dozen guitars in our G Series that make use of okoume back and sides, and even a couple with okoume tops. Most of these guitar models pair the okoume backs with solid spruce tops, delivering outstanding clarity and articulation.

How Does It Look?
As we mentioned above, okoume can look almost identical to mahogany, with a pronounced grain pattern of variable widths. Its natural color is a rich brown that looks amazing when accentuated with a gloss finish. It also looks great when contrasted with a natural spruce top, a sunburst top, or in a color finish like black.

What Takamine Guitars Use Okoume?
While okoume has traditionally been used by high-end guitar manufacturers and custom luthiers, many of the Takamine G Series models that offer okoume represent some of the most value-packed guitars we offer in the G11, G20, and G30 series. Some outstanding examples are the GD30CE-12, the GF30CE, the GN20CE, and even the incredibly affordable GLN11E, which has all-okoume construction.