Options
Body
Backs and sides are always made of hardwoods while soundboards (tops) are typically, although not always, made of softwoods. The woods listed here are just some you might choose. You can choose any woods you like that have a track record of producing great-sounding guitar.
Necks
Mahogany is probably the most popular wood for necks. However, most hardwoods use for bodies can be used for necks as well. One excellent option is a laminated neck in which two or more lengths of wood are glued together. Most typically two contrasting a species will be used with one species sandwiched between pieces of the other species to create an attractive stripe along the center of the neck’s length. Laminating adds strength and stability to the neck.
I have tried to provide an idea of the tonal differences between woods below. However, sound is very hard to describe and preferences are quite subjective. Plus every piece of wood is different. Also, it is important to note that the wood selected for the top has more impact on the sound than the species selected for the sides and back. The woods listed here are just some of the woods you might choose for you guitar.
Wood Options
List of Tonewoods
Indian Rosewood
Rosewood is a traditionally favorite tonewood. Brazilian Rosewood is endangered, but fortunately Indian Rosewood is plantation grown and readily available. It’s produces a strong bass and treble, making it very popular with bluegrass players. The mid-range tends to be a bit less powerful than some other woods, notably mahogany. Indian rosewood is often used to make very handsome fretboards.
Mahogany
Another traditional tonewood, mahogany’s sound is often described as warm and it offers a stronger mid-range than rosewood. Its look is understated compared to other tonewoods, with a dark reddish color and consistent grain. Mahogany is lighter and less dense than other hardwoods but has an excellent weight-to-strength ratio. For these reasons, mahogany is a top choice for necks, Mahogany necks are extremely stable. The lighter neck makes the instrument a bit more balanced in the lap. Because of its lighter weight, mahogany is one of the few hardwoods that are used to make guitar tops as well as sides and backs. An all-mahogany guitar will project a bit less than a softwood guitar but it produces a unique smooth and mellow sound that might make it a welcome addition to your guitar arsenal. Mahogany grows in Central and South America as well as Africa.
Sapele
This sustainably harvested African wood is very similar to mahogany in tone and appearance. It’s a bit heavier than mahogany, and some believe this results in a brighter tone, but truthfully two sets of sapele could vary in tonal qualities just as much as a set of sapele versus a set of mahogany. The same is true of two sets of mahogany. Like mahogany, sapele makes fine, stable necks.
North American Cherry
To my eye and ear, cherry is the premier domestic tonewood when it comes to beauty and tone. Cherry’s tone is warm, clear and balanced with plenty of projection and sustain. Exposure to sunlight will cause this wood to darken to a deep reddish color over time. Cherry is closed-grain and that makes necks that are smooth as well as gorgeous. While a bit less durable than maple or rosewood, cherry is still plenty dense enough to make a durable fretboard.
North American Black Walnut
Walnut is a wonderful choice if you prefer dark back and sides. It’s mostly a gorgeous chocolate brown with strips of yellow or gold. By contrast the early wood (outer rings) is very light and when I get a set with earlywood I’ll often orient it at the center joint to create a dramatic natural strip. Black walnut is known for a tone that is balanced, clear and well defined.
Maple
You can’t get more sustainable than maple—it’s perhaps the most common hardwood in North America. It’s a dense wood that that produces a tone that is bright and clear. Maple absorbs and dampens overtones, which can really let an excellent top speak for itself. Visually, maple varies widely from plain sets to various amounts of striking curliness. Less common (and more expensive) are quilted maple, and bird’s-eye maple. Ambrosia maple exhibits beautiful streaks left by attacks of the ambrosia beetle. If maple appeals to you, we can talk through the options. Because of its density, maple makes excellent fretboards. For purely traditional and aesthetic reasons, maple fretboards are found mostly on electric guitars, but there is no practical reason not to use it on your custom acoustic if you like.
Wenge
Wenge, from Africa, is dark wood with a very consistent grain pattern of dark and lighter brown. It contains minerals that make it very chimey, ringing out with superb sustain and projection.
Ebony
Ebony is too dense and hard to be used as a tonewood. This density translates to durability, which is why ebony has traditionally been the top choice for fretboards and saddles. Older guitars have pure black ebony fretboards and saddles. But pure black ebony is now almost impossible to find and would greatly increase the cost of your guitar if we could find it. Today’s ebony has white streaks that I find attractive. If you want a pure black fretboard, I would highly recommend richlite. This is an extremely durable and attractive and stable material made from resin and wood fiber. Another pure black alternative is sold as “Royal Blackwood.” It’s purpleheart wood that’s been torrified to turn it black.
Soundboard
The three woods I use for soundboards are spruce, cedar and redwood. The soundboard is really the speaker of the guitar and has much more impact on how the guitar sounds than the back and sides. Below I have tried to characterize how the woods differ in tone, but it is important to keep in mind that every piece of wood is different—the spacing of the grain lines in particular makes a big difference. Tre es that grew more slowly have closer grain lines. This makes the wood stiffer which allows me to make the top thinner and more responsive. By flexing the wood and tapping to listen to it as I thickness-sand the soundboard, and then tapping and listening as I carve the braces, I can bring out the best tone the piece has to offer.
Spruce
Spruce is the densest and stiffest of the woods—I usually make spruce tops a little thinner than cedar or redwood. It responds well to bare fingerpicking but offers the brightest tone and rings out with clarity when played with a flat pick or fingerpicks. Most spruce is yellow when first finished and then mellows into a beautiful orangish color. I like to use old-growth Sitka spruce but we can choose a different variety such as Adirondack spruce if you like.
Cedar
Cedar has a warmer tone than spruce. It’s less dense than spruce. This makes it ideal for fingerstyle players who attack the strings more lightly than flatpickers. Although you can certainly play a cedar-top guitar with a pick, the sound can get muddy if you attack the strings hard. Cedar finishes to a darker orange than spruce, or sometimes closer to brown.
Redwood
Redwood, as the name suggests, finishes to a gorgeous reddish color. It’s a bit denser than cedar but still closer in tone and response to cedar than to spruce. It’s also a great choice for fingerstylists and often projects a bit more than cedar.