The Most Commonly Used Tonewoods For

Acoustic Guitar Construction

In the following section, we’ll take a look at the most commonly used tonewoods
and describe their tonal characteristics along with the components of the guitar they
are best suited to.

 Many of the metrics used e.g. hardness, strength and elasticity are best
looked at as a base of comparison between the listed tonewoods.
Spruce

Component Soundboard
Density kg/m3 Sitka Spruce – 425
Dried Weight Adirondack Spruce – 435
Engelmann Spruce – 385
Hardness Sitka Spruce – 2270
Resistance of wood to dents and wear. Measured Adirondack Spruce – 2180
as the amount of force required to embed a . Engelmann Spruce – 1740
444ml steel ball halfway into a sample of timber.
Tensile Strength Sitka Spruce – 70
Bending strength before rupturing e.g. breaking Adirondack Spruce – 66
Engelmann Spruce – 62.2
Flexible Strength Sitka Spruce – 11.03
The amount of stress required to deform the Adirondack Spruce – 10.76
timber Engelmann Spruce – 9.44

Acoustic Characteristics
Easily the most commonly used top wood for acoustic guitars. When compared to
Cedar (ano9ther commonly used soundboard timber),  Spruce is lighter and
possesses more flexible strength resulting in a bright, responsive tone with good
articulation and a wide dynamic range that holds it’s tone without bocomming
brittle even when strummed with good intensity.
The main appeal of Spruce, aside from its availability is its compatibility with
many styles of guitar. Not to mention its ability to age gracefully and look
and sound better over time.
The three most common species of Spruce used for acoustic guitar soundboard
construction are: Sitka Spruce, Engelmann Spruce (European) and Adirondack
Spruce. Sitka Spruce is best known for its balanced tone, whilst Engelman is
typically a lighter, more supple tonewood resulting in less projection. Adirondack
Spruce produces a wider dynamic range than Sitka and is considered more
responsive.
Appearance
Spruce is light in color often described as blonde, or amber and features a tight
grain pattern. Spruce tends to take on more of a darker, golden appearance as it
ages, providing visual character to older instruments.

Cedar

Component Soundboard
Density kg/m3 370
Dried Weight
Hardness 1560
Resistance of wood to dents and wear. Measured
as the amount of force required to embed a .
444ml steel ball halfway into a sample of timber.
Tensile Strength 51.7
Bending strength before rupturing e.g. breaking
Flexible Strength 7.66
The amount of stress required to deform the
timber
Acoustic Characteristics
Second in popularity to Spruce as a soundboard material, Cedar (a member of the
Mahogany family, also sometimes referred to as Indian Mahogany) is a softer wood
than spruce and as a result produces a warmer, darker, more complex sound
compared to Spruce.

Cedar accentuates typically lighter sounding tones with greater response than
Spruce. This makes it ideal for styles of guitar that are played with the fingers as
opposed to being strummed e.g. classical and finger style playing.

Cedar is also considered strong yet light, but not to the same degree as Spruce,
especially along the end grains where it can be brittle. As a result it is unable to
drive the same amount of volume as the stronger more flexible Spruce and tends
not to last quite as long.

This is the most likely reason you will notice many vintage acoustic guitars are
made from Spruce as they tend to remain playable for much longer.

Appearance
Cedar is finely textured and tends to feature more linear grain patterns. Colors can
range from a pale yellow/cream to dark with honey tones.

Mahogany

Component Soundboard, Back and Sides

Density kg/m3 590
Dried Weight
Hardness 4020
Resistance of wood to dents and wear. Measured
as the amount of force required to embed a .
444ml steel ball halfway into a sample of timber.
Tensile Strength 80.8
Bending strength before rupturing e.g. breaking
Flexible Strength 10.06
The amount of stress required to deform the
timber

Acoustic Characteristics
Mahogany is defined as a hardwood but it is perhaps better identified as a ‘soft’
hardwood. More often seen as a back and side pairing for acoustic guitars, full
Mahogany guitars (soundboard, back and sides) aren’t uncommon however and can
look very good.

In my experience Mahogany is a very natural, woody sounding tonewood. It lacks

some of the initial punch of other tonewoods but emphasises the high and low end
frequencies with greater prominence, whilst scooping some of the midtone
frequencies.

Appearance
Most easily recognised by its deep red and pinkish hues, you will often see
Mahogany used for furniture construction. Tightly grained with a uniform
appearance and less discernible grain patterns it’s an attractive timber that tends to
look better as it ages.

Rosewood

Component Back and Sides, Fingerboard

Density kg/m3 Brazillian Rosewood – 830
Dried Weight Indian Rosewood – 835
Hardness Brazillian Rosewood – 10870
Resistance of wood to dents and wear. Measured Indian Rosewood – 12410
as the amount of force required to embed a .
444ml steel ball halfway into a sample of timber.
Tensile Strength Brazillian Rosewood – 114.4
Bending strength before rupturing e.g. breaking Indian Rosewood – 135
Flexible Strength Brazillian Rosewood – 11.5
The amount of stress required to deform the Indian Rosewood – 13.93
timber

Acoustic Characteristics
Rosewood (back and sides) are often paired with Spruce (soundboard) and provide
a balanced yet complex tone, due to the abundance of overtones produced.
Rosewood provides good articulation, especially of the lower end frequencies. It is
less dominant in the mid ranges, but when paired with Spruce for example produces
a balanced and wide dynamic range.

Appearance
Rosewood is a very dark (chocolate) tonewood and contrasts nicely with a lighter
timber top. Rosewood is a hardwood but is also quite porous and typically requires
grain filling to provide a smooth surface for finishing.

Why is Rosewood not seen as often on guitars as it once was? 

Rosewood has come under tighter import and export laws thanks to CITE
regulations brought in to protect the species. As a result, rosewood is not as
prominently as it once was in guitar luthiery.
I’ve experienced this first hand with my previous company having to make changes
to fretboard construction as we offered rosewood as an option along with maple
and ebony. And while frustrating, this is a larger issue for acoustic guitars with
rosewood being not only a good fretboard option but also ideal for the body back
and sides.
While frustrating for manufacturers, the restrictions are not without reason.
Rosewood has long been exploited due to high demand, mostly for furniture.  In the
ten years preceding 2015, it is estimated that ⅓ of all illegal timber and wildlife
seizures were rosewood.
Maple

Component Back and Sides, Neck, Fingerboard

Density kg/m3 705
Dried Weight
Hardness 6450
Resistance of wood to dents and wear. Measured
as the amount of force required to embed a .
444ml steel ball halfway into a sample of timber.
Tensile Strength 109
Bending strength before rupturing e.g. breaking
Flexible Strength 12.62
The amount of stress required to deform the
timber

Acoustic Characteristics
Maple is a hard timber and accentuates mid and upper ranges with greater emphasis
than Spruce or Cedar for example. It is rarely seen on acoustic guitar soundboards
and is more often utilised for the back and sides along with the necks due to its
strength. It is highly responsive with good compression and sustain.

Many people make the point that maple influences tone much less than other
species and lacks character. As a result is harder to define.

Appearance
Another pale timber, maple has a more whiteish appearance than Spruce and often
features highly decorative grain patterns. Maple is often seen as a book
matched veneer on electric guitars like the Gibson Les Paul. The highly decorative
grain patterns of Flamed Maple, Quilted Maple and Spalted Maple can look
stunning when finished with a high gloss sealer.