The wood that is used to construct a guitar is often referred to as tonewood. Often strikingly beautiful, tonewood also plays an important role in the overall sound of the guitar. This post attempts to go over some of the more common types of tonewood available, their sound characteristics, and what type of playing style they are best suited for.
The Standards
Indian Rosewood
Indian Rosewood is considered to be the gold standard these days by many professional. It is one of the most popular woods of all time. It’s color usually ranges from red to light brown with golden streaks, but can often come in shades of purple-brown (which eventually oxidizes to a rich brown).
Indian Rosewood takes the sound of mahogany (which excels in the mid-range) and expands in both directions. It is known to produce a very well balanced sound, with a deep low end and bright top end.
Indian Rosewood is very versatile and sounds great when finger picked, strummed or flat picked. It excels in any application. You cannot go wrong by choosing this wood for your next guitar.
Mahogany
Midrange. This is where mahogany excels, which makes it a great tonewood for acoustic guitars. Acoustic guitars generally live in the midrange, so why not choose the tonewood best suited for this area of the sound spectrum? The sound of a mahogany guitar is often characterized as ‘punchy’. It can be very loud.
Like Indian Rosewood, mahogany has been used as a tonewood for decades and is one of the more popular choices. The sound is perfect for blues, roots or folk music, but can work well with a broad range of music.
Smaller body mahogany guitars are great for fingerstyle musicians.
American mahogany is getting increasingly more rare, so prices are starting to rise. A very good alternative to mahogany is sapele. This alternative tonewood has similar sound characteristics to mahogany and is much more available in the marketplace. It is a great choice for budget conscious buyers.
Other Exotics
Australian Blackwood
Australian Blackwood is in the acacia family and is a close cousin of Hawaiian Koa. With a similar sound profile to Koa, Australian Blackwood is an excellent alternative to Indian Rosewood for somebody who is looking for something a little more exotic in appearance.
Australian Blackwood paired with a cedar top can be an excellent choice for a fingerstylist. Strummers and flat pickers will be better suited pairing this tonewood with a spruce top.
Hawaiian Koa
Koa is in the acacia family and is a cousin of Australian Blackwood. The first thing you will notice about Koa is it’s beauty. Koa, and especially figured Koa, can make an absolutely stunning guitar. It also makes for a nice sounding guitar. Koa is known for a midrange similar to mahogany with a top end like maple.
A Koa guitar will start out sounding very bright like maple, but the more the guitar is played, the more the sound really opens up, expanding the midrange.
