Wood talk: Mahogany

Mahogany enjoys a pronounced popularity largely due to Gibson's preference; the Les Paul guitar is synonymous to a mahogany highlight. It is a fairly dense wood but differences in mass do occur depending on the pedigree. Mahogany gives off a tight, bottom end response (that Les Paul low end is unmistakable, yes?) & its high frequencies are unpronounced. As such, the wood is prized for its deep resonance & sustain inducing properties- 'my Les Paul vibrates till tomorrow' is a good account of this capacity.

The situation today is that mahogany is the standard to beat when it comes to tonal depth which is largely a celebrated association with the Gibson brand name. For a deep sounding acoustic resonance, the more massive ash & maple would beat mahogany to it. In this light, what you hear from mahogany is actually lower midrange; some clarity is still present.

Mahogany which ends up as a musical instrument is actually wood put to good use as opposed to furniture where the industry takes into lesser account the wood's sonic properties & overall value.