A cousin of the more popular and well-known African tonewood, Bubinga, Ovangkol/Shedua is a softer wood (of similar weight and density) with handsome, yet greatly varying aesthetics. Its heartwood color can range anywhere from a light to medium yellow, to a light orange- or reddish-brown, usually highlighted by darker brown or black striping. Its unmistakable sapwood is pale yellow in color.

Its grains can be straight, wavy or interlocked, with generally a medium texture and nice natural luster (due in part to a somewhat high silica content). It is a tough, durable wood, usually possessing fairly cooperative working properties — although its silica content can gum up blades and cutting tools, and there can be tearout issues with boards with interlocking grain patterns. Shedua turns, glues and finishes quite well.

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Sustainability: Not listed in the CITES Appendices; categorized on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a species of “least concern.”

Common Uses: Veneer, flooring, furniture, cabinets, trim, musical instruments and turned objects.

Comments: Although it bares very little aesthetic resemblance to Bubinga, Shedua (also a member of the Guibourtia genus) can be an impressive, visually stunning exotic wood. Tiger-stripe, fiddleback and mottled figuring can be found, on occasion. Examples can vary dramatically in appearance, one from another — so much so that they could easily be thought to be of different, unrelated species.

The wood has become quite popular as a body wood with many electric guitar luthiers who are familiar with it. Some of the more dense pieces are sometimes used as fretboards, also.