WOODS

In order to help with selection of the best combination of woods for your ideal guitar I include here a description of the tonal qualities of each of the main species of wood used in my instruments.

Standard soundboard woods

The soundboard is probably the most crucial element to a particular guitar's sound so the choice of wood species must be right for your desired sound and suit your technique. Below I have described the main species that I use to help you with this choice.

Sitka Spruce - meaty, punchy sound with a rich edge
Sitka spruce grows in North America to a large diameter and it is not a problem finding straight, even grained pieces, and for this reason has become the most widely used soundboard wood for steelstring guitars. However, despite the relative ease of finding cosmetically good boards, I still select very carefully for the characteristics I require and I often find only 5% or so of a given sample of top grade boards meet my ideal tonal, strength and density qualities. Sitka is one of the strongest and often the most dense soundboard woods, meaning that it generally works very well for harder players and it certainly has the greatest headroom of all the common species. Lower density examples tend to give a rich but warm edge to an instrument's sound whilst heavier pieces can be brighter but always rich in tone. I generally recommend Sitka for medium to large sized guitars and it is definitely one of the most versatile woods, working well for mixed style playing and can be taylored to suit both fingerstyle and plectrum users. Sitka ranges from pale to dark straw colours so is often chosen by people who like an aged look to the soundboard.

Englemann Spruce - clear, open and responsive
A North American spruce readily available in higher cosmetic grades, Englemann spruce is visually very similar to Alpine spruce which is pictured further down the page, with a pale creamy white colour and a very regular grain. It generally has a slightly lower density than the other spruces making it a very responsive top wood for fingerstyle players, with a full, open tone and clear sweet trebles. This wood is my first recommendation for very responsive medium to small fingerstyle guitars (OM and OO) and it also works very well for larger more heavily built guitars designed for mixed accompaniment work (fingerstyle and strumming), producing a guitar which is more responsive to gentler playing than Sitka.

Western Red Cedar - rich, fruity and explosive
Cedar grows in North America similarly to Sitka and Englemann, and fits into a totally different tonal category to the spruces. Cedar has transformed some of the possibilities of the modern steel strung acoustic guitar; giving fingerstyle players the type of responsiveness previously only found in Classical guitars or very old and well played steel string guitars. Cedar has a relatively short grain making it slightly weaker lengthwise than most spruces but its low density means that even though it must be left around 10% thicker it works wonderfully as a soundboard material. These properties lead to a sound which is immediately open and responsive even in a new guitar, with a tone that is very rich and fruity with an explosive warmth. Cedar excels for fingerstyle guitarists and indeed is a crucial element in many contemporary guitarists' sound. It does, however, have less headroom than the spruces making it less suited to hard flatpicking and strumming where it can sound a little blurred, although this quality can be used to great effect for bazouki style strummed accompaniment in open tunings. Cedar is much darker in colour than most spruces, ranging from the colour pictured below to a dark chocolaty brown.

Special order soundboard woods

These woods are less readily available and more costly and add a premium to the cost of an instrument but I generally always have them in stock. See the Prices page for their current costs and availability.

Alpine Spruce - bright, well defined, sweet and clear
As it's name suggests, this species of spruce grows in the European Alps, and it is a wood that has been used for hundreds of years in the construction of stringed instruments. It has been a carefully managed resource but now over use has resulted in a scarcity of good quality timber. Due to the relatively small size of my output I am usually able to find enough top notch Alpine spruce (by careful and lengthy selection) to offer it as an option. Alpine spruce is a very responsive wood with a clear bright sound and a great depth of tone. It possess a certain lightness of sound which makes guitars that allow you to hear everything very precisely and that record exceptionally well. It is generally more responsive than Sitka spruce but still with good headroom so is ideal for smaller and larger guitars wherever a pure clarity is required, suiting fingerstyle players and plectrum users. Playing in time can be a little longer than for some other woods but it is well worth the wait! Alpine spruce is a milky white colour with darker winter growth lines which can be almost invisible or a contrasting brown colour.

Adirondack (Red) Spruce - depth and clarity with a smooth punch
Adirondack spruce is a North American species which is perhaps the most similar to Alpine spruce. It was taken up by early American acoustic guitar makers for this reason and has since become very scarce and sort after by people trying to achieve that holy grail of the 'pre-war' sound. Some Red spruce has now started to become available again but cosmetic grade wood is still very rare and it was always a wider grained more random looking timber. I am now importing this wood in small quantities for customers who seek a genuine vintage feel but are prepared to put up with some variation in grain width and colouration (these factors are not significant tonally), some cosmetically higher grade timber is available with notice, but is very expensive. Adirondack spruce combines the clear, bright overtones of Alpine spruce with the low punch of Sitka, although for me its defining characteristic is a certain unique smoothness it gives to the overall tone of a guitar and its great strength allows it to be thinned down for a very responsive instrument but with loads of headroom for dynamic players, visually it is similar to Alpine spruce but with a relatively wider grain. I've really enjoyed using this wood recently and would highly recommend it as giving a great balance of all the aspects that go to make a great sound.

Redwood (Sequoia) - dark and lush with crisp ringing definition
Redwood is most similar to cedar in look and tone but has slightly greater density which gives it greater headroom making it more suited to harder players than cedar. You can think of it as cedar with a bit of extra presence and ring added or 'cedar on steroids' as my supplier puts it! Redwood usually has a beautiful deep wine red colour making it one of the most dramatic looking soundboard woods.

Lutz Spruce - sweet and responsive sitka hybrid
Lutz or Roche spruce is a hybrid of sitka and white spruce that grows quite commonly in similar regions of North America to those species. It has not been used in mainstream guitar building to my knowledge but is now being offered by some small wood processors and looks absolutely great stuff. Its grain is very similar looking to sitka but it has a paler creamy white colour more similar to Alpine spruce and a slightly lower density but very high strength. In practice it should produce a sitka like tone but with extra responsiveness due to the lower density. I am currently making my first instrument using Lutz and I'll update my description when it's done!

Above; Sitka Spruce, Alpine Spruce and Cedar.
N.B. Cedar can often be darker than this particular example and Englemann looks very similar to Alpine Spruce.
Adirondack has the same colour as Alpine spruce but a rather wider grain

Standard back and side woods

The wood used for the back and sides plays a crucial roll in the sound and feel of a guitar. The wood's structural properties will influence everything from the feel of the strings to the projective qualities of an instrument as well as the more obvious colouration of the tone.

Indian Rosewood - deep, rich definition
Indian Rosewood is the hardest, most dense back and sides species used as standard in my guitars. These properties give instruments a deep dark sound in the basses with a rich clear midrange and add bright harmonic overtones to the sound with a slight reverby quality. Projection is strong making it an ideal wood for unamplified performances in all styles. With the spruces it gives a classic tone; strong and direct with a beautiful balance of depth, warmth and brightness, and with Cedar it produces a big warm rich sound that is very responsive. Indian Rosewood comes in a range of colours from pinky brown to dark purple brown hues.

I currently have some of the tightest grained most solid Indian Rosewood I've ever possessed, absolutely stunning quality and very rare these days.

Mahogany - balanced, rich and woody
One of my personal favourites, Mahogany is usually as stiff as Indian Rosewood but has a slightly lower density and a somewhat softer surface. This means that it exhibits the same powerful projective properties as Rosewood but with a drier, woodier tone. The overtones produced are very rich especially in the midrange but less metallic than rosewood, giving mahogany guitars a characteristic 'growl' to their sound. One of mahogany's great strengths is the wonderful separation and rich bite it gives to individual notes without ever sounding harsh, making it an ideal wood for more complex fingerstyle pieces, Blues and Travis picking, as well as strummed and picked accompaniment. Mahogany has a rich mid-brown colour, often with a strong stripy appearance as the grain changes direction across it's width. Well quartered pieces have a fine checkered figure.

I am now using sustainably grown mahogany sets which sound fantastic and are really beautiful with a strong stripy grain and some unusual mild flaming at the edges similar to koa. These are the same species as 'Honduras Mahogany' but are plantation grown in Sri Lanka. If possible I will use wood from this source exclusively from now on; I haven't seen mahogany of this quality and suitability for instrument building from anywhere else!

Walnut - fat and woody punch
As traditional woods become rarer new species are coming into use, one of my favourites is American Black Walnut, grown in North America and the UK. Black Walnut is softer and less dense than rosewood and mahogany but is still very resonant. Walnut instruments exhibit a lovely warm, woody tone with a mellowness not found in the harder woods. The trebles have a unique earthy tone which records very distinctively. I would recommend American Black Walnut for a woody flatpicked sound and mellow fingerstyle playing, its fuller lower midrange may make it a little less distinct sounding for harder strumming but can give an instrument a very punchy sound when hit hard although with less presence than the more traditional woods. Walnut has a stripy appearance somewhat like Indian Rosewood but with a greeny grey colour. Figured sets are sometimes available.

I now have some rare locally grown English Walnut which are now ready for use. Similar look and sound to Black Walnut but with a slightly less grey colouration.

Above; Indian Rosewood, Mahogany and plain Black Walnut.

Special order back and sides woods

These include woods which are rarer and some add extra cost to an instrument. I may need a few months advance warning for some of these species. Please inquire about exact price and availability and for fuller descriptions of tone and look. There are some more woods listed on the Prices page, mostly unusual one-offs I happen to have at the moment.

NEW WOODS GALLERY PAGE!
Choose from some of the actual wood I have in stock at the moment.

For some of these woods I require their cost up front in addition to the usual deposit so that I can replenish stocks as quickly as possible.

Brazilian (Rio) Rosewood - deep, ringing and bright
I usually have a reasonable stock of nice old growth Brazilian rosewood (of absolutely legal origin, CITES certificated). It combines a deep well-like quality with ringing, metallic overtones and a very strong projection and presence.

Cocobolo Rosewood - like Brazilian but more so, with stunning colours
Beautiful orange and chocolate colours and even higher density than Brazilian making it an ideal substitute for that increasingly rare wood. Deep, fat, liquid tone with a ringing presence.

Amazon Rosewood - Rio sound without the huge price tag!
Amazon rosewood is another Brazilian species of rosewood and is very similar to the legendary Rio in tone. I have some exceptionally high quality Amazon rosewood in stock at the moment and hopefully a reasonably steady supply for the next few years. It has a very straight fine grain and colour varies from dark to mid chocolate.

Palo Escrito (Mexican rosewood) - sweet lively focus
Now permanently in stock, this wonderful rosewood has a beautiful brick red and terracotta colour with an intricate stripy grain and produces a beautiful sweet balanced tone. The notes are full and well defined with a nicely focused lower end and a less metallic edge than most rosewoods.

Honduras Rosewood - deep, ringing and rich brightness
A lovely wood, sounding somewhat like Brazilian but with an added harmonic richness, similar looking to Palo Escrito but with a slightly pinker colour. Please inquire for availability, when I can get it this is one of my favourite rosewoods!

Padauk - maximum value for Brazilian like tone and a distinctive look
An African timber with a tone very similar to the true rosewoods and a strong orange colour when freshly sanded that mellows to a beautiful dark brick red quite quickly.

Koa Now in stock with my supplier, lots to choose from.

Other woods
I can get pretty much any wood you've heard of and many others you probably haven't, so just ask for a quote, some notice may be required for certain species. Check Prices page for current stock of specials which include at the moment; quilted sapele, quilted bubuinga, highly figured claro walnut, camatillo rosewood and ziricote.

Pictures; top; highly figured Brazilian, middle; Cocobolo and bottom; Palo Escrito.