I just learned that it's not easy to photograph shiny ebony. This back and sides set is West African ebony and has some subtle grey streaks that are hard to capture. The top is reclaimed redwood, the radiused fretboard is Brazilian kingwood and the body and fretboard bindings are ebony. It's strung with Oasis 8101 (the low G set), which seems to work well in C and also tuned down a step. I've been playing in both tunings and haven't decided which one I like best. I wouldn't select a wound string just for its color but in this case the gold strings nicely complement the gold Evo frets and gold Gotoh UPT tuners.