It’s my understanding that wood from the Tree is generally denser and heavier than generic mahogany (swietenia macrophylla, Honduras, or swietenia mahoganii, which is Cuban).
That would account for a sonic difference, I think – dense woods with a high Q value (low damping of vibration) will tend to sound one way – which is similar to good rosewoods – while woods with a lower Q (higher damping) will tend to sound a little ‘airier,’ which description is usually applied to mahogany and mahogany-like woods.
A good test would be to play a mahogany OM (made of non-tree mahogany) vs the Tree.
Based on a purely anecdotal sample (playing the 00-29 made of Tree mahogany vs my own cuban mahogany 00-29), there are differences in sound, with Tree wood sounding a little more low-damping and reflective. I also think that it’s some of the most beautiful material I’ve ever seen….
It’d be fun to instrument a series of similar guitars in different woods and collect some quantitative data.
