How does Ziricote guitar sound?

Posted by williamsajorge on February 25th, 2020

Ziricote is a tree native to Central America and Mexico, it is considered a highly beautiful wood, providing an ashy grey hue to its flesh, compared with the warmer looks other popular woods provide. It often has shade of black, olive green and purple running through it. It has incredible detail in its grain known as “spiderwebbing” or “landscape” grain. It gives guitars made in this would a unique look, meaning that you can be sure that no one has an instrument that looks quite the same. However, this individuality of the wood can lead it to have an increased price.

Ziricote is a popular choice for all guitar types, whether that be acoustic or electric. Ziricote acoustic guitars are popular due partially to their personalised appearance it also provides an impressive sound quality. With deep boomy low notes showered over with star like sparkly highs it provides an enviable sound, that similar to it appearance, is individual to the wood. It has a very clean sound quality that make it an excellent choice for anyone looking to buy a guitar.

Ziricote guitars are not as common as other woods and so that will naturally increase the price. For some it will be worth it, but it also comes with other drawbacks. Ziricote has reputation for being a wood with more tangential movement. This does not necessarily have to be a negative to the wood, but it requires a more intense care plan. Ziricote fingerboards in particular can be at risk due to the potential for cracking if not cared for correctly. With ziricote guitars it is important to ensure that the humidity of where they are kept is controlled. These guitars may also be at risk in the creation process, the builder cannot rush the process as this will also increase the likelihood of damage to be caused.

When compared to other tone woods, ziricote is a lovely option, with similarities to rosewood and ebony. Many would say that it is brighter than ebony but has the depth and warmth of a rosewood that the musical population love in a guitar tone. Ziricote has low dampening properties which make it a popular choice for many. As anyone with a serious interest in guitars should know, the sound quality of a guitar comes mostly from the fretboard. The back, sides and top whilst offer some sound properties are not significant indicators of sound. This means that if you were not keen on the aesthetics of ziricote but felt that the sound quality was desirable you could mix and match the woods used to build the guitar.

Overall, ziricote is a fantastic wood to build guitars with and it provides the perfect choice for many budding guitarists and professionals alike. However, if you are looking for a guitar that is easy to look after it may not be the choice for you. Despite this its sound quality is excellent and some would argue unrivalled.