How to pick your acoustic guitar based on the wood it is made of

Some time ago I have decided to post here guest posts from other fellow guitar bloggers, hoping this will bring something now to the table, different from what I usually write about. So, this being said, today I will post here an article of Anton Emery, the Community Manager of http://www.RhythmStrummer.com. This site offers easy guitar lessons in a fun & patient atmosphere, taught by teachers who care. Students learn songs & technique lessons across a variety of genres, including Folk, Country, and Classic Rock- all with NO advertising.

Anton sent me today an article about an overview of different tonewoods for acoustic guitar and I am happy to post it here today, hoping we would all learn something from it. Enjoy and comment!

To the beginner buying an acoustic guitar can be an over whelming decision. They come in a myriad of body shapes, all with different specifications and woods. How are you supposed to know what makes one better than the other? In this article we will look at some of the various tone woods that acoustic guitars are made of, and how they impact the sound.

First off I want to say that tone is a very subjective. The words and images I use to describe tone may be different than the ones you use. So while these kinds of articles are good as a guide, there is no substitute for your own experiences and using your own ears. Go out and play a bunch of guitars and be your own judge in the end.

Acoustic guitars generally use one type of wood for the top, and another type of wood for the back and sides. Occasionally you may see one type of wood for the back, and another for the sides, but usually they are the same.

Top Woods

Spruce is by far the most common top wood. It comes in many varieties including Sitka, Englemann, and Adirondack, to name a few. It is a sturdy, stable wood with a high strength to weight ratio, well suited for guitar tops.

Sitka spruce is a good all around wood, being to stand up to heavy strumming and picking, but on the right guitar also being responsive enough for a light fingerstyle player. Of course a lot of this is dependent on how the guitar is built and braced. Sitka spruce has a very loud strong tone, with a decent amount of sustain. I feel as a top wood it tends to emphasize the fundamentals more than the overtones, but there is enough there to keep the sound interesting.

Engelmann spruce is lighter in weight and less stiff than sitka. It responds well to a lighter attack, resulting in a more immediate sound, and one more lush with overtones than the other varieties of spruce. Folks say that Engelmann does not hold up as well to heavy strumming. I can’t verify this, I only know I have really enjoyed the Engelmann topped that I have played fingerstyle. I have a pretty light attack, so they seem to suit me quite well.

Appalachian or red spruce was widely used before World War II. A lot of the great pre war Martin guitars are topped with red spruce. Then the wood was over harvested and folks began switching over to sitka. Red spruce is a fairly heavy and stiff wood. It has good volume, a lot of dynamic range, and generally favors the fundamentals though also includes a good amount of overtones in the sound. Red spruce is generally very expensive as guitar top, and usually only available as an upgrade.

Besides spruce, cedar is another fairly common top wood seen on acoustic guitars. It is much softer than spruce, and more prone to nicks and dings. The appealing thing about cedar is it sounds rich and played in from the start. It responds very well to a light attack, and is a popular top wood among fingerstyle guitar players. Cedar top with rosewood back and sides will make for a very rich and deep sounding guitar right from the start. If you want a lot of clarity and note separation this may not be the ideal top wood for you. Some folks say cedar does not hold up that well to vigorous strumming or a harder attack, and that the sound breaks up or gets muddy. I can’t verify this for myself.

Irish guitarist John Doyle plays a cedar topped Lowden and he is quite a rocking player.

Another topwood you will see sometimes is Redwood. It is said to be the best of both worlds, combining the sensitivity and richness of cedar with the durability and volume of spruce. Folks I know who have redwood topped guitars rave about them, so definitely worth checking out.

Back and Side woods

One of the most common side woods is Rosewood. It has a lot of, richness, volume, and sustain that many players find very appealing. Indian rosewood is the most common and available choice these days. Brazillian Rosewood is another option, though it is a very expensive upgrade. It is illegal to import Brazillian Rosewood logs now, so most of the supply that guitar builders have is from before the ban, making it very limited and desirable.

The other common back and side wood is Mahogany. It is lighter and less dense than rosewood. In my opinion mahogany is kind of under valued as a guitar wood, with folks usually opting for the richer sounding rosewood. Obviously this depends on the sound you want and playing style, but mahogany is a very fine back and side wood. It will have a drier, more fundamental sound than rosewood, with good clarity and note separation. Paired with either a spruce or cedar top a guitar with mahogany back and sides will be a good recording instrument, with a clear fundamental sound easily captured by the mics. Often rich sounding rosewood guitars are great sounding to the player and an audience, but can be harder to record.

Maple is another wood you will sometimes see for the back and sides. It has a very bright and penetrating sound, but paired with the right wood can make for a great sounding guitar.

Other woods you will sometimes see for the back and sides are cocobolo, ebony, Honduran rosewood, and zirocote. These are less common, probably more seen on higher end instruments. They all have a very rich sound, with some people comparing them to brazillian rosewood. Ebony in particular is very dense, and will make for a heavy guitar.

Hopefully that sheds some light on the various guitar woods and will give you some ideas of what to look for when shopping around. Depending on what price range you are looking in, you may not run into all these options, but they are good to know about. And above all else, let your ears be the final judge, not what folks say on the internet.

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