There are a number of different materials that are used for the purpose of constructing guitars. Let us take a look at a few of them.

Mahogany

When this wood is used as a guitar top, it has a low velocity of sound as compared to other woods, good density, and a lower overtone making for an overall solid tone with a response that is at the upper areas of the dynamic range. Guitars that use mahogany for a top have a punchy sound that is generally suited for country blues music. When used as a back and the sides mahogany has a high velocity of sound giving a lot more overtone coloration.

Rosewood guitars are generally thought of as metallic sounding; mahogany guitars are noted to sound a lot more wood-like. A mahogany back and sides has the tendency to emphasize the bass and treble notes. Mahogany for the neck generally creates a warmer tone, being woodier in the tonal ranges. This also tends to be true when mahogany is used as a bridge.

Koa

This wood has been used for the purpose of sound board creation since around the 1920s. This is a type of hardwood that features considerable density, a low velocity of sound and a low content of overtime. This allows Koa to produce a tone that is solid and sounds wonderful at the higher end of the dynamic musical range. Koa definitely offers a mid-range tone that seems to work well with rhythm guitar playing. Koa is a lot like Mahogany wood when used for the back and the sides of a guitar. It adds tonal coloration while still putting a midrange emphasis on the instrument.

Brazilian Rosewood

All rosewoods are capable of contributing to the tonal coloration of an instrument. Brazilian Rosewood happens to be particularly known for the high sound velocity that it offers as well as its broad range of musical overtones. Brazilian Rosewood is also known for being strong and complex. It offers strong mid ranges and high ranges, giving this type of wood a real richness in tone, especially for upper registers on the guitar. Guitars that incorporate rosewood also tend to have a reverberant tonal quality that is caused in part by the audible delay in certain harmonics and their natural onset. Brazilian Rosewood tends to offer a tremendous amount of clarity along the bottom end while sparkling along the top end.

Red Spruce

This is a relatively heavy type of wood that offers a high level of velocity of sound. It also offers the highest amount of stiffness along as well as across the grain out of all of the top wood materials. It has a strong fundamental overtone content, but it also has a more complex one as well. Tops are capable of producing the highest amount of volume, but this wood also produces a real rich fullness in its tone that retains its level of clarity at every single dynamic level. When it comes to top woods, it may be true that red spruce is the Holy Grail, at least as far as acoustic guitars with steel strings are concerned.

Photo Credits: Ctd 2005

Originally posted 2009-11-03 03:01:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Buying Guide to Dobros - Wooden Resonator Guitars Consult different buying guides for buying a Dobro, and you will find yourself getting different opinions from different people. Dobros are wooden body resonator guitars, which are a unique piece of musical history and an intriguing instrument for you to play. These Dobros do not have to be expensive, as......
• Acoustic Musical Instrument Glossary pt 3 Interval - An interval is described as a difference in pitch from one tone to another, and intervals are most commonly measured as the difference between the lower tone and the higher tone. Intonation - Intonation, in its most literal form, means either pitch or using pitch. One who speaks......
• 4 More Top Acoustic Guitars for Beginners Purchasing a brand new acoustic guitar for a beginning player can easily become intimidating, especially if this is your first ever acoustic guitar and you are not sure where you are meant to begin. There are a number of unique factors that you are going to want to consider when......
• Buying Acoustic Guitars If you are in the market to buy a brand new acoustic guitar, the one of the biggest factors that you should take into consideration during the decision making process is the tonewood. The individuals that make guitars believe that the wood that is chosen for the top of the......
• Wood Types for Acoustic Guitars Just as there are many types of acoustic guitars, so are there many types of wood from which guitars may be made. It also matters in which part of the guitar the wood is to be used. Also as with many things, the skill of the craftsman, the design of......

Related Websites

• Rose de Mai and Rose Thé by Le Jardin Retrouvé Les Trois Roses - The Three Roses Rose Opéra - Rose de Mai -  and Rose Thé are the three roses offered by Le Jardin Retrouve. I earlier wrote about Rose Opéra and the interesting story behind it. Next are Rose de Mai and Rose Thé. Rose is a popular......
• Musical Instruments Bass When some people hear the word bass, they immediately think about the bass guitar, a popular instrument in many types of music today. However, there is actually a large number of different instruments that fall under the base category, and the bass guitar is only one of them. Bass instruments......
• Top Surf Spots in the World Everyone has their own unique preferences when it comes to surfing, because different surf spots offer unique waves, unique terrain and completely unique experiences. Still, there is a general consensus when it comes to some of the top surf spots in the world, and here is a small handful of......
• Firestone Finishes with Adam Scott at the Top of the Leader Board Not only was the weather beautiful for the last day at Firestone for the Bridgestone Invitational. The gameplay was equally as beautiful. Some of the best players were battling it out to win the day that this World Golf Championship. At the end of the day when all of the......
• Fishing Report: November 6, 2009 Lake Fishing - In Amador, a weekly plant comprised of 3,000 lbs just went in this past Tuesday. The ticket here is definitely going to be power bait. Most fish are being caught around the topmost five feet in the water here. The trout have generally been averaging around 4lbs......

Online Stores

• High Power Led Grow Lights Hydroponics & Seed Starting Gardening & Plants Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living Nursery
• Ranges & Cooking Appliances Major Appliances
• Case Autoharp & Zither String Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Rps24 Price Cornet Trumpet & Cornet Brass Acoustic Musical Instruments
• Hard Acoustic Guitar Cases Acoustic Musical Instruments

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.



Categories:

Acoustic Musical Instruments, Guitars

Tags:

blues music, board creation, coloration, country blues, different materials, dynamic range, guitar guitars, high velocity, mahogany wood, mid range, mid ranges, overtone, overtones, punchy sound, rhythm guitar, rosewoods, sound velocity, upper areas, upper registers, velocity of sound