As you can tell, there's definitely more that matters when it comes to the wood used for fretboards. Some guitarists may over-exaggerate the effect on the overall sound, but no one can deny that each type of wood looks uniquely different.
The neck wood affects the tone of a guitar by impacting the way that the vibrations produced by the strings behave. Denser neck woods, like maple sound brighter and have less sustain. Mahogany on the other hand, produces a warmer and darker tone with better resonance and sustain.
Spruce. This evergreen, found in northern temperate regions of the globe, is literally top choice: the ideal wood for the soundboard, or top, of an acoustic guitar. Its look — light in color, even in grain — is appealing though somewhat plain; what sets it apart is its beautiful tonal properties.
Wood loses structure over time as water-soluble sugars that make up the wood's cell walls (cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose) break down. This causes the wood to become lighter and more resonant, affecting the wood's ability to hold moisture relative to humidity.
The most expensive of all the tropical woods.Macassar Ebony, Maple and Walnut deliver very similar acoustic results at a fraction of the price of African Blackwood. African Blackwood is a member of the Rosewood familyhas long been credited by guitar builders as the â€holy grail†of tonewoods.
More specific to your question is that relative to guitar woods, bass wood would be the lightest. Bass wood is a hobby grade wood that found great success because it is a renewable wood source and bountiful, and more importantly cheap.
One of the favorites for guitar soundboards is old-growth Sitka spruce. Thanks to their long, slow growth, these old-growth trees have tight growth rings that give them a great sound in instruments, with little of the cellulose fiber between rings that can deliver poorer tone.
Adirondack is now often used as an alternate name for red spruce, even if not harvested from the Adirondacks. If in doubt, using the term "red spruce" would always be correct because that is the name of the tree regardless of where it grew.
The most commonly used wood for guitar tops, Sitka generates a broad dynamic range and accommodates numerous playing styles, from aggressive strumming to fingerpicking. As a guitar soundboard, or top, Sitka spruce is the tonewood standard of the modern era. It's used on 85-90 percent of the guitars that Taylor makes.
Blueridge. The Blueridge brand are Chinese-built and have won praise from publications such as Guitarist Magazine, Total Guitar and Music Maker for quality and affordability.
We have sitka is not the best of spruces for flat top guitars. We have no difference between sitka and red spruce if the densities are the same.
Buck.
| Red Spruce | Sitka Spruce |
|---|
| Specific Gravity @ 12%MC | .37, .43 | .36, .42 |
| Janka Hardness | 490 lbf | 510lbf |
| Modulus of Rupture | 9580 lb/sq.in | 10,150 lb/sq.in |
Carpathian Spruce, a European Spruce (Picea abies) grown in the mountains of Romania, is prized by many builders due to its "best of both worlds" properties. Among the varieties of Euro Spruce commercially available, Carpathian Spruce tends to have wider grain patterns similar to what you'd expect in Adirondack Spruce.
Despite the laser-like location of its name, Adirondack spruce actually grows in a northeast-heavy corridor from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, embracing, along the way, the mountain range (itself part of the Appalachians) that shares its name.
Identification of the Red Spruce: Red Spruce trees have four-sided, short,yellowish green needles on woody pegs. The cones, which fall soon after maturity, are around 1.5 inches long. They hang pendantly and are reddish-brown and woody. The slender new twigs have a reddish coat of down through the first year.
The wood harvested from these types of trees is valued for its characteristics of being strong, heavy, and aesthetically pleasing, which has led to it being in high demand for creating furniture and musical instruments.
It is the most commonly used hardwood because it's relatively economical, durable, attractive, easy to work with and resonant. Mahogany became popular in guitars because it is attractive and cheaper to get than rosewood. It makes a warm rich sounding guitar with great resonance and volume.
Again this wood sounds better with age and is typically found on more high end guitars. Mahogany: Mahogany is great for the backs and sides of a guitar as it has a great mid range character. It can enhance the mid range tones and add meatiness/thickness to the sound.
Bring the container under the blacklight and observe the results: true Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) will not fluoresce or show any appreciable change of color under the blacklight, while most other rosewoods will glow a pale blue/green color.
The most durable and long-lasting furniture is made from hardwood. Natural hardwood comes from deciduous trees and is less likely to decay and rot. Indian Rosewood is also one of the hardest natural woods when kiln-dried, and is prized for it's distinctive grain pattern that makes each piece of furniture unique.
True rosewoods
The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in the Western world is the wood of Dalbergia nigra. It is best known as "Brazilian rosewood", but also as "Bahia rosewood". This wood has a strong, sweet smell, which persists for many years, explaining the name rosewood.But then, not everybody uses the term warm to mean the same thing. But I think most people, particularly those who are in the business of selling guitars, refer to Indian rosewood as being warmer than mahogany, due to higher amount of harmonic overtones and the added complexity in the lower midrange.
Mahogany vs walnut – which is best? Mahogany has a more 'classic' and antique look while walnut is more modern and understated. This means that some home aesthetics may suit one more than the other, but solid wood generally can work well in most settings, whether it's rustic or more contemporary in style.
Mahogany has a thick bottom end, a controlled high end, and a perfect midrange. It's a tonewood that perfectly balances all ranges of sound, which is why it's so commonly used in custom acoustic guitars. It suits most players and guitar body shapes, and provides the best sound.
In electric guitars, mahogany bodies offer a gnarly growl and legendary sustain. Good quality mahogany ages very well and sounds better as it matures – it's part of the reason those mid-'50s Les Pauls go for so much today!
MahoganyTonally, it has far warmer, darker tone than both Cedar and Spruce. As a material for back and sides, mahogany's density can add great 'punch' and projection, adding warmth, but with definition, and a 'woody' character.
Here is my ranking of the top 10 acoustic guitar brands:
- Gibson.
- Guild.
- Seagull.
- Yamaha.
- Ovation.
- Washburn.
- Fender.
- Epiphone.
Best Wood for Musical Instruments
- Walnut.
- Ziricote.
- Spruce.
- Ebony.
- Mahogany.
- Maple.
- Rosewood.
Mahogany top guitars are excellent for the person who loves to play chordal rhythm behind their own singing or someone else's. But mahogany top guitars sound terrific when finger-picked or flat-picked too. They provide less volume than spruce tops, but one can always use medium gauge strings for increased volume.
Mahogany is a type of wood that is simply described as having straight-grains and a reddish-brown hue of timber. (Bridgewater, 2012) In its native environment, the Mahogany tree grows to an immense size – as much as 150 feet high and between 10 and 12 feet in diameter.
The answer is that it does. Generally, heavier woods like mahogany resonate differently than a medium-bodied wood like alder and a lighter wood like basswood. And don't forget feel. A big part of your tone comes down to how you play — how you fret chords and how you strum or pick.
Like Mahogany, Sapele is used as both a top wood and a back/sides wood. Also like Mahogany, Sapele is a popular wood for guitar necks.
Related: Mahogany vs Rosewood.
| Tropical (Honduran) Mahogany | 900 lb |
| African Mahogany | 1,070 lb |
| Sapele | 1,410 lb |
| East Indian Rosewood | 2,440 lb |
