Mutenye

Family: Fabaceae / Caesalpinioideae - Order: Fabales - Class: Magnoliopsida

Scientific name: (Guibourtia arnoldiana)

Trade name: Mutenye

Also known as Tropical oliver, Benzi, Oliver walnut, Mbenge.

Origin: Central and West Tropical  Africa.

Instrumental uses:
Guitar back and sides, fingerboards, bridges, head plates and bindings.

Tonal properties:

As tone wood quiet similar to Ovangkol, very warm tone with tight basses and a very good definition to the mid and high frequency range.

If used as fingerboards or bridges, can offer a great note definition regarding the the loud presence of the midrange frequencies.

The grain is straight to interlocked with a medium fine texture that can have silica in the inner grains.

Easy to work, sometimes can offer some troubles on gluing but finishes well.

Is stiff and very resistant with an average dried weight nearly of 49.8 lbs/ft3 or 800  kg/m3.

Guibourtia arnoldiana occurs in evergreen and deciduous forests of Central and West Tropical Africa.

The tree reaches a height of 50 m. The bole is generally low buttressed, and occasionally fluted, up to 20 m in length. The trunk diameter attains about 120 to 150 cm.

The heartwood is golden brown to dark brown with darker gray and sometimes reddish, brown and black stripes and is common to have figured grain patterns. The sapwood is grayish yellow lighter tone.

CITES status is unrestricted. Is not reported on the IUCN Red List.