Volcano/Matthew Smith Congas Ohia Wood
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:24 amI have recently acquired a very rare set of congas graced by 2 hand builders of some of the finest congas today (Tom Alexander of Volcano and Matthew Smith of Ritmo). This set of Ohia wood Volcano congas are among only 6 that have ever been made by Tom at Volcano. Much to his credit, Tom quickly discontinued this line of congas due to issues with the wood's density and the amount of wasted material. Tom long had the dream of using Ohia wood (the true volcano wood) to build congas but this feat never had been performed prior to these few.
The following picture is of this fine set of 3 Ohia Congas: (they sound as good as they look)
The following pictures are a comparision of these Ohia Congas (left) with Monkeypod congas (right) of the same type:
The following is a prior topic regarding Ohia Congas:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5267
Ohia wood is the true volcano wood tree. Ohia is the one of the first trees to take root in volcanic ash and is an exceptionally dense wood. Ohia compared to White Oak for Janka hardness is Ohia's 2090 to Oak's 1360. This makes Ohia probably the hardest wood ever used for building congas to this day.
Ohia is common to Hawaii and appeared to be a wood to build indestructible congas. The story takes a unfortunate turn. Because of the density of this Ohia wood, these congas initially had cracking issues at the glue lines because the wood was not fully cured. These congas were taken to Matthew Smith and it takes 3 additional weeks in Matt's conga kiln for these congas to fully cure. Afterwards, Matt changes the crown, head and installs his trademark bands. (Tom at Volcano makes things right for this customer by replacing this set of 3 Ohia congas with 4 "Premium Book matched Monkeypod" congas. Tom is always the professional craftsman and gentleman.)
Attached are some photos of the results. I hope to own these for a long time into the future. (God willing)
The following is a quoted from the web:
The Ohia is unique to Hawaii. It is one of the trees initially used by native Hawaiians for critical construction applications such as tools, and wear-strips along the gunwales of canoes. Its modern applications are typically in flooring, furniture and cabinetry. It is one of the very first trees able to take root on new lava fields. The wood ranges in color from pale brown to a dark reddish brown. It is fine grained, very hard, strong, and dense (specific gravity .70) In furniture and cabinetry applications, Ohia is nearly indestructible. However, great care and experience must be brought to bear in the seasoning of this notoriously unstable wood.
The wood has a greyish red hue with purple highlights and can develop a long and beautiful curl. It is very hard, but with only fair stability, it is not popular in complex joinery. When dry it tends to be very difficult to work.
Ohia comes from Hawaii, and is somewhat similar to Koa in appearance. However, Ohia is substantially harder than Koa, in fact, at 2090 on the Janka scale, it is 50% harder than Rosewood. Ohia finishes to a fine luster with rich warm colors. When used as a top plate on electric guitars, Ohia produces a brilliantly crisp tone with great sustain.
Keep it fun,
Jerry
The following picture is of this fine set of 3 Ohia Congas: (they sound as good as they look)
- Set of 3 Volcano Ohia wood Congas
The following pictures are a comparision of these Ohia Congas (left) with Monkeypod congas (right) of the same type:
- Quintos Ohia and Monkeypod
- Congas Ohia and Monkeypod
- Tumbas Ohia and Monkeypod
The following is a prior topic regarding Ohia Congas:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5267
Ohia wood is the true volcano wood tree. Ohia is the one of the first trees to take root in volcanic ash and is an exceptionally dense wood. Ohia compared to White Oak for Janka hardness is Ohia's 2090 to Oak's 1360. This makes Ohia probably the hardest wood ever used for building congas to this day.
Ohia is common to Hawaii and appeared to be a wood to build indestructible congas. The story takes a unfortunate turn. Because of the density of this Ohia wood, these congas initially had cracking issues at the glue lines because the wood was not fully cured. These congas were taken to Matthew Smith and it takes 3 additional weeks in Matt's conga kiln for these congas to fully cure. Afterwards, Matt changes the crown, head and installs his trademark bands. (Tom at Volcano makes things right for this customer by replacing this set of 3 Ohia congas with 4 "Premium Book matched Monkeypod" congas. Tom is always the professional craftsman and gentleman.)
Attached are some photos of the results. I hope to own these for a long time into the future. (God willing)
The following is a quoted from the web:
The Ohia is unique to Hawaii. It is one of the trees initially used by native Hawaiians for critical construction applications such as tools, and wear-strips along the gunwales of canoes. Its modern applications are typically in flooring, furniture and cabinetry. It is one of the very first trees able to take root on new lava fields. The wood ranges in color from pale brown to a dark reddish brown. It is fine grained, very hard, strong, and dense (specific gravity .70) In furniture and cabinetry applications, Ohia is nearly indestructible. However, great care and experience must be brought to bear in the seasoning of this notoriously unstable wood.
The wood has a greyish red hue with purple highlights and can develop a long and beautiful curl. It is very hard, but with only fair stability, it is not popular in complex joinery. When dry it tends to be very difficult to work.
Ohia comes from Hawaii, and is somewhat similar to Koa in appearance. However, Ohia is substantially harder than Koa, in fact, at 2090 on the Janka scale, it is 50% harder than Rosewood. Ohia finishes to a fine luster with rich warm colors. When used as a top plate on electric guitars, Ohia produces a brilliantly crisp tone with great sustain.
Keep it fun,
Jerry
