What is Tonewood?

Tonewood is the luthier’s term generally used in the industry to describe music wood…wood with recognized and consistent acoustic qualities.   This wood is mainly used  for building guitars, violins, and stringed instruments, where each species of wood used contributes a different sound, or tonal quality.  An accoustic guitar, just for example, could have a maple back and sides, with a spruce or cedar top.     

Some of the most common types of tonewood for guitars are:

SOUNDBOARDS

Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) from North West Canada and Alaska - Its high stiffness combined with the lightweight characteristics of most softwoods, makes it a natural for high velocity of sound.

Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) from North America. Engelmann spruce is prized for its similarity in color to European (German) White spruce as well as its extreme lightness in weight which seems to produce a slightly louder and more projective or “open” sound than Sitka spruce.

Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) from Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Western Red Cedar has long been used as a soundboard material by classical guitar makers for its vibrance and clarity of sound. It’s extremely light weight compared to spruce, and the tonal result is a slightly louder, more open response. An interesting characteristic of Red Cedar is that it sounds broken in, even when it’s new.

When looking to purchase a soundboard for your acoustic guitar, here are a few terms you should be familiar with.  

The first is RUNOUT.  Runout refers to the fact that the orientation of the wood fiber over the length of the guitar top is not running parallel to the edge of the guitar top.  It is often caused by a twist to the growth pattern of the tree.  When severe, runout causes the wood fibers to be shorter over the length of the guitar top, and over time can weaken the structural integrity of the top. It’s best to avoid purchasing guitar tops with runout.

The second term to be familiar with is Grain Orientation. Your acoustic guitar tops should be quarter sawn to no more than 12 to 15 degrees off perfect quarter.  The grain should be straight and run parallel to the edges of the guitar top.  

There are many reasons to select a perfectly quarter sawn acoustic guitar top. Here’s a few of them…

1. Perfectly quarter sawn wood is generally stiffer, stronger and more resilient which helps maintain the structural integrity of the guitar.  It’s the stiffness of the wood that makes the instrument less likely to deform under the pressure exerted from the strings.
2. It’s said that because of its stiffness, perfectly quarter sawn wood tends to have a crisper more responsive tone.  
3. The appearance of quarter sawn wood is also very important. When a top is perfectly quartered it will reveal the medullar rays that run at right angles to the grain (which is often called silking) and have a luminous, reflective quality to their appearance.   

BACK AND SIDES

Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) This wood is sometimes called jacaranda. Brazilian Rosewood is an endangered species of wood and is more difficult and costly to obtain than other tonewoods.  Tonally, it produces full deep basses and brilliant trebles. 

East Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) This rosewood is rich in apprearance with dark purple, red and brown grain. It produces a deep warm projective bass response.

Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) Mahogany is from South America. It’s yellowish brown to reddish brown in color and is very stable wood. It resonates a strong loud sound with a quick response and a warm midrange.

Curly or Quilted Maple (Acer macrophyllum) This maple is also know as Western Big Leaf Maple. Maple is harder and has a brighter sound than mahogany. 

Cherry (Prunus spp.). Cherry produces a rich, projective midrange and balance without favoring the bass or treble frequencies. 

Koa (Acacia koa) from Hawaii. Koa is a golden brown color with dark streaks and a beautiful sheen. Koa seems to have a bass response that is slightly less than that of rosewood and treble response that is slightly less than that of mahogany which results in a very equally balanced instrument.

SOLID BODY GUITAR WOOD

Alder - Alder is popular as a material for electric guitar bodies. It’s a medium weight wood used by many guitar makers. Alder provides a brighter tone than other woods (such as mahogany), and as alder is not a particularly dense wood it provides a resonant, full bodied sound with decent sustain.

Ash – Also know as swamp ash. It offers firm lows, pleasant highs, a slightly scooped midrange, and good sustain. 

Basswood – This is a very light and fairly soft wood. It’s light in color with minimal grain. Solid basswood bodies have a fat, but well-balanced tonality. 

GUITAR NECK WOOD

Maple - Maple is easily the most common type of neck wood used in solid body guitars. A one-piece, solid maple neck contributes an edge of sizzle in the highs, and firm lows. It has a bright sound and excellent clarity with light to medium picking.

Check out our Wood Store for Alder solid body wood, Curly Maple neck blanks, Western Red Cedar soundboards (guitar tops) and Figured or Spalted Maple drop tops.   We’re adding new items daily, so check back often and if you don’t see what you’re looking for, please contact us we’ll be happy to help you find it.