An introduction to tonewoods and what you should know before investing in an acoustic guitar.
By: Aaron Schulman
Many new guitar players purchase an acoustic guitar or have one given to them as a gift, not knowing a thing about the ingredients that must go into the craftsmanship in order to produce that tone they heard when they first fell in love with the acoustic guitar and dreamed of becoming a great player.
Read Part 2 of Aaron’s series on acoustic guitar tonewoods
Then, somewhat tragically, as the newbie continues to work hard at his or her guitar playing and becomes a skilled “not-so-newbie” acoustic player, he or she becomes easily and quickly dissatisfied with his or her original axe – wishing they had gained a little more insight into the craftsmanship and ingredients of a great sounding acoustic guitar before investing in one or haphazardly listing a popular name brand guitar on his or her Christmas list.
Sadly, this is true of my personal story over 20 years ago, and no doubt echoes the stories of countless other beginner acoustic guitar players whose dreams have been somewhat stifled by a cheap or “dull” sounding acoustic guitar, when just a little bit of study, research and testing would have helped him or her to find the best beginner acoustic guitar for the investment.
While no one can honestly get a brand new, top end Dreadnought guitar built with solid, luxurious Indian Rosewood for the back and sides as his or her first guitar acoustic guitar, anyone can start with a reasonable budget range and get the best quality, craftsmanship, fit and sound projection and tone quality for the investment.
Starting a student, child, or beginner guitarist on a poor or mediocre instrument is the quickest and most surefire way to hinder their dreams and hopes of becoming a good player – and this can be true for any instrument, not just the acoustic guitar. Understanding quality craftsmanship and tonewoods is essential in an acoustic guitar purchase, whether you are looking to buy a guitar for a beginner or for a more advanced performer or studio playing professional.
Where Tonewood Matters: 3 Essentials
Although many factors play a role in the overall projection, tone quality, and character of the acoustic guitar, such as the age and wear of the strings, the bracing pattern of the guitar top, the body size of the guitar, and the finish coat of the body, we will be considering the essential importance of general tonewoods used in making the acoustic guitar body in this article series.
When talking about how tonewood affects the sound, projection, sustain, EQ balance, tones and overtones produced by an acoustic guitar, the sides, back, and top of the acoustic guitar body are the most important anatomical aspects to consider. The top of the guitar (or soundboard – where you find the sound hole) plays a major role in the projection of the sound and the liveliness of the guitar. The sides and back also add a tremendous amount of qualities to the initial tone, overtones and projection of the acoustic guitar.
Many luthiers (professional guitar makers) would argue that the book-matched top pieces of the acoustic guitar body have the biggest influence on the tonal qualities, response and resonance of the guitar, and projection while the back and sides round out the sound and give it overtone qualities specific to the type of woods used.
Other luthiers argue that the back and sides contribute just as much in producing the project, quality, tones, overtones and response as the top does. Regardless of the camp, luthiers agree that the quality and type of tonewoods used in making the soundbox (or body) make all the difference.
Tonewoods
Let’s Start at the “Top”
For the acoustic body top, there are a few specific tonewoods used that are highly popular for both their natural abundance (supply), affordability, strength to weight (and gauged thickness) ratio, sound velocity, and overall ability to impart unique acoustic tones to the specific guitar. Some very common top woods to look for are:
Sitka Spruce is perhaps the most popular top tonewood used as it is very abundantly harvested in the Northwest of the U.S. and into parts of western Canada. The tree, Picea sitchensis, can grow between 50 and 100 meters tall, and between 5 and 7 meters in diameter, being the largest spruce species and the 5th largest cone bearing (coniferous) tree in the world. This large tree, when quarter-sawn (like being cut into 4 pie pieces) can yield a significant amount of suitable boards for build acoustic guitar tops.
Not only is it very abundant, but it happens to grow with very straight, tight grain patterns giving it a very high strength to weight ratio which gives it great sound velocity (for transmitting vibrations to the rest of the body), tonal qualities, and projection when compared with other top tonewoods. Engelman spruce and Adirondack spruce are suitable substitutes, but are not sought out as consistently and with the same demand as Sitka Spruce.
Even many low budget guitars include Sitka Spruce for the book-matched top pieces, though this wood is found in many of the high-end professional models. Adirondack was one of the most popular, pre-World War II woods used and was discontinued for some 50 years due to low supply. It has made quite a comeback in Appalachia and has been returning as a very popular top tonewood.
Cedar is also a straight grained, large tree that is most popularly used in producing classical guitars (for classical and flamenco style playing). However, it produces a warmer, more lush sound than the Spruce tops, and is not recommended when crispness, brightness, projection and distinction are desired. Cedar top guitars are often desired in a steel string guitar when a warm, lush, blending acoustic guitar sound is desired over a crisp, distinct projecting tone that is typical of Sitka Spruce.
Although Mahogany has been a long-standing favorite of acoustic guitar makers, and is often used for constructing the top piece of many acoustic guitars, it is most commonly found as a wood used for the sides and back of many acoustic guitar models and often takes a close “second” to luthiers choice of Indian Rosewood for the back and sides (to be discussed later).
When used for the top wood, it produces more projection in the mid and high registers of the EQ, and does not project quite as well or give as “lively” of a response as a Sitka Spruce top. Often, when people hear “acoustic guitar woods” their minds quickly go to Mahogany as it has been a dominant wood used by luthiers worldwide over the last century, but ask any luthiers, they will quickly direct the conversation to other, often more desirable tonewoods.
Though this is not an exhaustive study on tonewoods used for the tops of acoustic guitars, it is a good overview of some of the top and most popularly used woods. As luthiers continue to experiment and other tonewoods are used, different tonal characteristics are developed across many top guitar producers.
Whether you are looking for a top end acoustic guitar, a solid guitar for beginner, a student guitar or one of many kids guitars, it helps to know a little about how they are made, and what they are made from before making any investment.
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About the Author: Aaron Schulman is an avid guitar player, teacher, writer and reviewer of acoustic guitars. His site, StrumViews.com is dedicated to honest acoustic guitar reviews from his many years of studying and helping others find the right fit for their budget, desired sound, and size.
