Zebrawood

The timber of the Microberlinia genus, an African hardwood named for its bold alternating dark and pale stripes.

The contrast comes from the way the grain is cut, so a board is either showy or plain depending on how the log was sawn, and the striking pieces are used as thin tops and decorative laminates where the figure can be seen. It is dense and fairly stiff, and it machines well, though the coarse grain can split along the stripe boundaries. Tonally it is usually placed alongside the other dense, bright African hardwoods.

Example: a thin zebrawood cap over a plain body gives an instrument its entire visual character without adding much weight.

typical use: Body tops, fretboards and decorative laminates.

Zebrawood

See also