How many versions of "The Tree" are there?

hamburg325 · #1 03-02-2021, 08:16 AM

I thought it was, like, one enormous, ancient mahogany tree from Central America.

But, an awful lot of guitars seem to be built from "The Tree."

So maybe it would be more accurate to say "A Tree."

jgottsman11 · #2 03-02-2021, 08:27 AM

It's one huge mahogany tree that has produced a lot of figured wood. Many different variations in the figuring.

warfrat73 · #3 03-02-2021, 08:34 AM

As I recall, there was enough wood for about 10k instruments from that one tree.

There are different figure patterns from different parts of it too.

jazzereh · #4 03-02-2021, 08:51 AM

That has confused me as well given all the talk I've seen about guitars that people own made from 'the tree'. I've wondered as well, if you were buying a guitar that was claimed to have been made from 'the tree' if you could really be certain that it was. Always priced high compared to other guitars. Might be hard to just take the sellers word for it.

Is there some sort of certificate that would confirm the wood source?

Dirk Hofman · #5 03-02-2021, 09:24 AM

I wonder if it matters. If one likes the figuring and tone and is willing to pay for it, what does the source matter. I guess easy for me to say since I don’t care for the look and haven’t played one so it’s all a bit abstract for me. I would not personally pay more for The Tree.

Boozehound · #6 03-02-2021, 09:44 AM

Sort of serves as a reminder that it really doesn't take all that much wood to make a guitar.

Erithon · #7 03-02-2021, 11:42 AM

There is only one Tree, but it was a big tree:

It produced three primary figures--quilted, blistered, and tortoise shell veined--and these figures appear in various qualities depending on the piece of wood and how it was resawn.

It is very easy to know if you have wood from the Tree. The figure is unmistakable. There is other figured Mahogany out there, but it doesn't look like the Tree. Some gets closer than others, but the Tree remains the epitome of figured Mahogany.

Naboz · #8 03-02-2021, 03:48 PM

Oh. My.
Erithon, I knew it was just the one Tree, but I had no idea how large!

KalamazooGuy · #9 03-02-2021, 07:48 PM

I have thought of this as well. Good topic!

Goodallboy · #10 03-02-2021, 08:24 PM

I too appreciate learning about that “tree”. And what a tree it was.

Mark L · #11 03-02-2021, 08:39 PM

I read about it here:

https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-id...the-world.html

The Bard Rocks · #12 03-02-2021, 09:01 PM

The Tree was monsterous, fallen, lying in a small ravine in an extremely-hard-to-reach part of the Belizean jungle. For a couple of years, I'd tried to reach that area, the Chiquibul, (for other reasons) and never could arrange to get there. Land Rovers and Hummers are not adequate transportation to get you there. I have no idea how they ever managed to get it out - it sat for years before they accomplished this.

I wonder: was it the most commercially valuable tree ever harvested?

LakewoodM32Fan · #13 03-02-2021, 09:33 PM

Imagine the lost possibility of instruments that could have been made, instead we got these...

https://www.stuartwelchfurniture.com...gany-the-tree/

I know we probably have a few furniture fans here who likely think that was a great use for the wood.

CSB123 · #14 03-03-2021, 12:29 AM

First i ever heard about it, what a fascinating story, going to read up on this one.

Methos1979 · #15 03-03-2021, 06:10 AM

I've seen some incredible examples of guitars made with 'The Tree' mahogany and I've also seen some that are sort of just 'meh', although even the 'meh' ones still command a premium price. It always made me wonder if the best examples of figuring have been consumed and now the less stunning are all that's left.