Understanding Top Woods For Guitars

By Author: Terry Buddell
Total Articles: 24
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Ever wondered why top quality guitars always sound so much better than the cheaper versions? The answer is simple really and it's to do with the quality and type of tone woods that are used in it's construction.
If a guitar maker were to produce five identical top quality guitars made identically from the same timber except for the table, front or top) they would when played, sound totally different from each other.

Why is this? Simply put, it is because each top or soundboard has differing tonal characteristics from the others.
This knowledge is the results of many years experience by guitar makers who have used just about every wood that is in existence within reason! Their choices have really been narrowed down to several particular types and varieties of timber.
The top or ‘table' of a guitar, sometimes referred to as the soundboard works in conjunction with the strings and of course the rest of the body to produce the particular signature or individual tone of the guitar.

According to those that should know, ie the experts Spruce is regarded as the ‘top shelf' or King of soundboard ...
... woods.
Spruce, technically has the greatest tensile strength and elasticity to weight ratio.
This really means that the timber is very light, very strong and of course it is very flexible. This flexibility allows to soundboard to vibrate in harmony with the strings allowing reverberation of the table to happen. Imagine a very thick piece of ply in it's place. It wouldn't vibrate, just kill the sound stone dead. This vibration transfers energy into the sound produced and the strings, top , neck and complete guitar all vibrate at pleasantly differing frequencies that overlap and re-in force each other as they do so. The flexibility allows the sound to decay more slowly producing a much more desired ‘guitar quality.'

So what are these timbers with such quality?

Cream rises to the top so we will start with:

SITKA SPRUCE.
Found in Northwestern America in the forests of Alaska and Canada .
Sitka is a very sought after timber for guitar tops and it's qualities are considered the very best for top end guitars. Almost all real quality guitars use this for the table.
It produces volume, sustain, harmonic quality and above all a bright quality sound.

ENGELMANN SPRUCE.
Originates from Wester North America, Engelmann spruce is known as white spruce, European or German spruce .
It is recognised by it's creamier more yellow appearance. The old growth Engelmann spruce is extremely valued now and is considered to have a very mature quality and has a richer midrange than the rest. Unfortunately, most of the old growth trees have gone and it seems there wont be any more, not at least during our life time!

ADIRONDACK SPRUCE
Originating from North America, it is also known as Appalachian spruce or Eastern Red.
Known for its particular ‘sweetness' of tone Adirondack spruce was heavily used in the valued pre world war 11 guitars and simply gets better with time.
Modern grown Adirondack spruce is wider grained than the old growth but has a great dynamic range than Sitka and certainly has it's devotees who won't use any other.

WESTERN RED CEDAR.
Western Red originates from Western North America and has a very warm, pleasing and mellow sound. It's possible to drive a Cedar guitar to it's volume limit and as such is generally used by players with a light touch or fingerstyle players who look for warmth and quality of mid-range tones.

HARDWOOD TOPS
When one thinks of guitars with hardwood tops its usually Maple, Blackwood, Koa or even Walnut. These guitars are typically Weissenborn styles and will after years of playing develop a really rich tonal quality that develops a great character. They produce great tonal qualities like Sitka but develop more volume which accounts for the greater volumes of many slide and Weissenborn guitars .
They tend to take longer to do it but sound all the more valuable for it.

In spite of all the tonal variations of the timber and the different guitars that are around, it must also be remembered that tonal quality of the soundboard is literally in the hands of the players themselves. The strength of the percussion when they play and where they play along the strings all adds its character to the overall effect.
Strings too, produce great variations and all guitarists frequently hunt through differing string types and thicknesses searching for the combination that eases more sweetness from their valued guitars.
Finally, pick materials or even the lack of any at all shape tonal envelopes greatly.
For example, steel finger picks will sound very much different to plastic and even a flat pick.
‘Sound is in the ear of the beholder' and nowhere is that more prevalent in the world of great quality guitars.

If you are interested in finding out more about the mysteries of building great guitars why not visit terry's site www.buildaweissenborn.com and learn a little more?
Terry Buddell is freelance writer and lives on board his yacht in Gladstone, Australia.
Last year Terry, a keen blues guitar player, achieved an ambition and built a Weissenborn lap slide acoustic guitar, his first ever. Terry, amazed by the original rich tone and incredible volume of the guitar, designed a plan, built a website, wrote a book about building the guitar on his yacht and also wrote about his journey into the world of guitars.
If you are interested to learn more and read some more compelling articles about the art of guitar building for beginners, why not visit www.buildaweissenborn.com and find out more!