Best Wood For Acoustic Guitar Back And Sides

Mahogany is a wood that is used for both acoustic guitar tops soundboards and for back and sides.

Best wood for acoustic guitar back and sides.

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. Maple is a very light coloured wood. A bit more on the mellow side of half way.

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. Also called cigar box cedar because of its aromatic scent and its wide use in tobacco humidors. Spanish cedar acoustic guitar back sides set cedrela sp. It resembles the wood of south american mahogany to which it is related.

Heartwood color varies from a light pinkish brown to reddish brown. The top back and sides of professional grade guitars are made of meticulously gauged cuts of solid wood while beginner and intermediate models are built partly sometimes entirely with pressed plywood. Changing one tonewood for another regardless of the component e g. East indian rosewood seasoned dark.

Highs are typically soft and not overly pronounced. Rosewood is a very popular wood for guitars and has been used a lot traditionally too. These sets have been seasoned for over 25 years. This reduces overall stiffness as compared to quartersawn wood to predictable effect.

When used as a top it produces a warm earthy mid range dominant sound with subtle overtones. 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. Once again having a solid top should be the minimum requirement for anyone wanting a nicer acoustic and should be within everyone s budget.

They have been set aside for their exceptional color match of the back and sides and the dark color of the sets. 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. Personally i would like to see more plain quartersawn maple used for guitar construction boring as that may sound. Mahogany as a guitar top dense mahogany has a solid punchy tone with low overtone content and good high end response.

Mahogany is a fairly dense hard wood and is relatively heavy and strong ish. Cherry is a superb tone wood. The colour of the wood will darken in time with exposure to light into a gorgeous rich amber colour.