Sort of answering my own question right here,
but it seems that tone woods that are easier (and thus cheaper) to obtain, suffer from the perception that they are inferior to those that were once plentiful, but have now become difficult (and expensive) to obtain.
And it becomes a sort of "chicken & egg" situation ... Higher-end guitars tend to be made from the rarer tone woods (helping to make them higher-end guitars) and more affordable guitars are generally made from the easier to obtain woods (helping to make them more affordable guitars) ... but the question remains: Does an all mahogany Martin D-15 sound better than an all Sapele Martin D-15 ?? Or ... heaven forbid, vice-versa!
As mahogany and even East Indian Rosewood become harder and harder to obtain, will Sapele and Ovangol become acceptable on higher-end guitars ... at first as
substitutes ... and then perhaps as
equals to the less available current favorites??
Isn't this almost certain to happen ???
Or will carbon composites take over and make all tone woods obsolete ?
.