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 the guitar, and the woods own quality will make a difference in the overall sound and quality of the guitar.
In essence, you could use higher quality pieces of an overall lower quality wood, and produce a product superior to one that used low quality pieces of high quality wood.

The most often used high quality woods used for construction of guitars are as follows:

- Mahogany
- Koa
- Brazilian Rosewood
- Indian Rosewood
- Sitka Spruce
- Red Spruce
- Maple
- Basswood
- Ebony

Mahogany has a good density. When used for the soundboard it has a low sound velocity. However, when used as a side or bottom, its velocity is higher. The tone when used as a bridge or neck tends to be warmer.

Koa is similar to mahogany in that it has a good density, and is of a low velocity when used as a soundboard, while having a higher velocity as a side or back. However, it tends to emphasize the midrange tones more than mahogany.

Brazilian and Indian Rosewood share a lot of characteristics with each other. Their sound velocity tends to be high, their overtones having a broadness of range, a strong yet complex bottom end, and dark tone in the remaining range. Where they differ is that Brazilian tends to hold up better over the ranges, particularly being clear and bright in the bottom and top ends, whilst the Indian tends to be more of a midrange enhancer.

Sitka Spruce is the common and most used wood for soundboards. It is a very stiff wood, while being lightweight like softer woods. It has a high velocity sound, and is generally good for aggressively played guitar.

Red Spruce, on the other hand, is fairly heavy, has a high sound velocity, and is very stiff along the grain; more so than any other soundboard wood. Its tone is very full and clear at all levels of dynamics, making it an excellent soundboard for steel string acoustic guitars.

Basswood is very apropos in name, as while it is a light wood, it is very stiff, with great stability and low end response. Hence it is great for guitar necks and bass instruments.

Ebony was traditionally found used for the neck of instruments like the classical guitar, the violin, and high quality steel string guitars. Its sound velocity is the lowest among the commonly used woods. This is fine with guitars made with the better soundboard woods, but can be problematic with cheaper guitars using lesser soundboard woods thanks to its propensity to dampen sound.

Something else to keep in mind is the scarcity of some of these woods. Koa is grown only in Hawaii, and things like logging and grazing cattle have decimated their numbers, so they will be more costly to use.

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Originally posted 2009-02-20 05:38:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Acoustic Musical Instruments, Buyer's Guide, Guitars

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