This Guiro Tone Block is made of maple hardwood and produces a sharp deep tone when struck with mallet or a guiro effect when barrel head is scratched with mallet handle.
The scratch surface on the barrel head gives a fantastic rasp that's way more musical than I expected for a percussion block. Even when I switch to striking it with the mallet, the sharp note cuts through clearly in our jam sessions.
The maple wood feels dense and solid in my hand, and the guiro effect from scratching the barrel is exactly the sharp, raspy sound I was after. Paired with a mallet strike, the deep tone cuts through nicely during practice sessions.