Best Wood For Acoustic Guitar Back And Sides

When used as back and sides it is sometimes stained to produce a darker color particularly when used with a spruce top to add contrast.

Best wood for acoustic guitar back and sides. Most maple guitar back and side sets are cut on the slab which shows off any grain figure to best advantage. Top or back and sides can influence the entire sound of the instrument. The colour of the wood will darken in time with exposure to light into a gorgeous rich amber colour. Changing one tonewood for another regardless of the component e g.

Once again having a solid top should be the minimum requirement for anyone wanting a nicer acoustic and should be within everyone s budget. Mahogany as a guitar top dense mahogany has a solid punchy tone with low overtone content and good high end response. Rosewood for example is a hardwood that is often used for the back and sides of acoustic guitar bodies and under some circumstances will accentuate note articulation or clarity. When used as a top it produces a warm earthy mid range dominant sound with subtle overtones.

Heartwood color varies from a light pinkish brown to reddish brown. It is fairly light in weight. Highs are typically soft and not overly pronounced. Maple is a very light coloured wood.

Personally i would like to see more plain quartersawn maple used for guitar construction boring as that may sound. Mahogany is a wood that is used for both acoustic guitar tops soundboards and for back and sides. All guitars are at risk of extreme climate temperature swings and dryness so you still have to be careful with a 500 guitar or a 5000 all solid wood rosewood acoustic. But the most common building material by far is still good old fashioned wood.

They have been set aside for their exceptional color match of the back and sides and the dark color of the sets. Sound wise it falls between rosewood and mahogany. Mahogany back and sides often emphasize bass and treble with more overtone coloration and a woody sound as opposed to the more metallic sound of say rosewood back and sides. It resembles the wood of south american mahogany to which it is related.

Cherry is a superb tone wood. A bit more on the mellow side of half way. East indian rosewood seasoned dark. This reduces overall stiffness as compared to quartersawn wood to predictable effect.

Spanish cedar acoustic guitar back sides set cedrela sp. Rosewood is a very popular wood for guitars and has been used a lot traditionally too. Mahogany is a fairly dense hard wood and is relatively heavy and strong ish.