[nobo]

I think most buyers of guitars are pretty stuck in their ways and will chose a traditional wood because that accords with what their sense of "what's right" (i.e. been normalised through their exposure). That's not a criticism (indeed, going traditional is very sensible if you're concerned about resale value), but I don't think that means traditional woods are the best choice (tonally, ethically, environmentally, visually or however else you might want to measure it). EIR is, I'd guess, perhaps the most frequently used wood for back and sides. I wouldn't say it's "the best" (whatever that means) any more than Kenny G is! Although if we do value consensus for high end instruments, properly quartersawn Braz would be hard to displace from the top spot.

I can't really vote in this poll because, whilst the padouk and pau ferror guitars I've played have been excellent, my understanding is than ovankol and zebra wood are quite different. So I'd second comments that suggest you sit down and discuss what you're after with the luthier in question. As Mau said, it's like saying red is better than blue. Pick your favourite colour and then get the luthier to chose the ingredients to blend to get there.

FWIW, I'm a big fan of the less traditional woods. And whilst I've loved a lot of Braz instruments, I'm generally not a fan of the more vitreous woods and find the look of most rosewoods a bit boring and tonally they don't usually work for my style. My Kostal MD, for example, is claro walnut (which I much prefer to all the other MDs I've played, which were The Tree, two in wenge and one in African Blackwood) - but this is very subjective and I was hoping to a particular tonality. I'm also considering ovangkol for a build... I kinda like the idea that it might offer a bit of RW flavour without being a fully fledged vitreous wood. But, admittedly, I may just be entertaining it because of how pretty the particular set is ... !