Post by unherolike on Mar 19, 2009 17:03:05 GMT -5
OK so this is my attempt at making a acoustic tone thread for people to look over and compare the sounds and tones of different common woods used in acoustic guitar building.
Note I can't please everyone with this list but I'll do the best I can
-Backs and Sides-
Brazilian Rosewood: It is extremely sonically reflective, producing full, deep basses and brilliant trebles.
East Indian Rosewood: Reflective and producing a deep warm projective bass response
Honduran Mahogany: Mahogany yields a strong loud sound with a quick response and an emphasis on warm, round midrange.
Cuban Mahogany: The tone is similar to Honduran Mahogany with, some feel, a better treble response.
European Flamed Maple: This particular species of European maple is very hard and reflective, producing a loud powerful projective sound.
Western Hard Rock Maple: Very similar to Euro Flamed Maple most differences are just visual.
Koa: Koa seems to have a bass response that is slightly less than that of rosewood and treble response that is slightly less than that of mahogany. Its a very balanced wood.
Walnut: Imparts the bright "woody" tone of mahogany when played lightly, with much of the punchiness and power of rosewood when you dig in. When properly braced, a walnut-backed guitar can have a unique warmth and tonal depth.
Morado: Similar tonal property's of East Indian Rosewood
Myrtle-wood: Myrtlewood has a powerful voice of rosewood coupled with all the clarity, brightness and balance of maple.
Striped Ebony: Deeper and richer sounding than East Indian Rosewood, many would characterize striped ebony as very similar to Brazilian rosewood. It is dense, has similar reflective properties to Brazilian, and it also has a high specific gravity. It has a striking, distinctive vertical stripe pattern, variegated dark brown, black and green. It makes a truly exceptional twelve-string.
Cherry: Cherry produces a rich, projective midrange and balance without favoring the bass or treble frequencies.
Alder: It has a full and rich sound with a fat low end and nice cutting mids, and good overall warmth and sustain. It has less bite and lesser highs than ash.
White Ash: It exhibits a Snappy loud tone with a bright edge, but with a warm bass and long sustain. It is more aggressive sounding than alder.
Poplar: One of the softer hardwoods, nicely resonant with a meaty tone.
Basswood: It is a very light wood but it also isn't very sturdy and has no real grain. Its tonal response is very similar to alder.
Top-wood {soundboard}
Sitka Spruce: Sitka spruce is extremely vibrant providing an ideal "diaphragm" for transmission of sound on any size and style of stringed instrument.
Bear Claw Sitka Spruce(same as Sitka Spruce only it has a different pattern to it where you can see streaks of fibers that go across the grain.)Same as Sitka
Engelmann Spruce: Its extreme lightness in weight which seems to produce a slightly louder and more projective or "open" sound than Sitka spruce.
Adirondack Spruce(Red Spruce): Adirondack responds well to either a light or firm touch. It has more overall resonance
Norway Spruce(it has the most compact rings of all spruce species): Extremely clear and bell like, with the versatility of Sitka.
Western Red Cedar: It is extremely light in weight compared to spruce, and the tonal result is generally a slightly louder, more open response. Balanced, warm and rich with bright trebles. What is most characteristic of Red Cedar is that it sounds broken-in, even when new.
Redwood: It has more richness in the bass than cedar. Redwood responds to subtle playing with a crisp balanced sound.
The bass response is particularly round and full with a piano-like crispness. Its not a very strong wood because of this (as with cedar), some Luthiers recommend light gauge strings only on guitars with these tops.
Western Larch: It is an appropriate choice for scalloped braced models yielding a projective and crisp response.
Koa: Koa produces a predominately bright treble response with less volume than spruce, but the slight loss in volume is overshadowed by the extreme beauty of the grain.
Genuine Mahogany: Tonally, mahogany is less projective than spruce, producing a subdued response that is crisp and delicate with emphasis on the midrange.
Note I can't please everyone with this list but I'll do the best I can
-Backs and Sides-
Brazilian Rosewood: It is extremely sonically reflective, producing full, deep basses and brilliant trebles.
East Indian Rosewood: Reflective and producing a deep warm projective bass response
Honduran Mahogany: Mahogany yields a strong loud sound with a quick response and an emphasis on warm, round midrange.
Cuban Mahogany: The tone is similar to Honduran Mahogany with, some feel, a better treble response.
European Flamed Maple: This particular species of European maple is very hard and reflective, producing a loud powerful projective sound.
Western Hard Rock Maple: Very similar to Euro Flamed Maple most differences are just visual.
Koa: Koa seems to have a bass response that is slightly less than that of rosewood and treble response that is slightly less than that of mahogany. Its a very balanced wood.
Walnut: Imparts the bright "woody" tone of mahogany when played lightly, with much of the punchiness and power of rosewood when you dig in. When properly braced, a walnut-backed guitar can have a unique warmth and tonal depth.
Morado: Similar tonal property's of East Indian Rosewood
Myrtle-wood: Myrtlewood has a powerful voice of rosewood coupled with all the clarity, brightness and balance of maple.
Striped Ebony: Deeper and richer sounding than East Indian Rosewood, many would characterize striped ebony as very similar to Brazilian rosewood. It is dense, has similar reflective properties to Brazilian, and it also has a high specific gravity. It has a striking, distinctive vertical stripe pattern, variegated dark brown, black and green. It makes a truly exceptional twelve-string.
Cherry: Cherry produces a rich, projective midrange and balance without favoring the bass or treble frequencies.
Alder: It has a full and rich sound with a fat low end and nice cutting mids, and good overall warmth and sustain. It has less bite and lesser highs than ash.
White Ash: It exhibits a Snappy loud tone with a bright edge, but with a warm bass and long sustain. It is more aggressive sounding than alder.
Poplar: One of the softer hardwoods, nicely resonant with a meaty tone.
Basswood: It is a very light wood but it also isn't very sturdy and has no real grain. Its tonal response is very similar to alder.
Top-wood {soundboard}
Sitka Spruce: Sitka spruce is extremely vibrant providing an ideal "diaphragm" for transmission of sound on any size and style of stringed instrument.
Bear Claw Sitka Spruce(same as Sitka Spruce only it has a different pattern to it where you can see streaks of fibers that go across the grain.)Same as Sitka
Engelmann Spruce: Its extreme lightness in weight which seems to produce a slightly louder and more projective or "open" sound than Sitka spruce.
Adirondack Spruce(Red Spruce): Adirondack responds well to either a light or firm touch. It has more overall resonance
Norway Spruce(it has the most compact rings of all spruce species): Extremely clear and bell like, with the versatility of Sitka.
Western Red Cedar: It is extremely light in weight compared to spruce, and the tonal result is generally a slightly louder, more open response. Balanced, warm and rich with bright trebles. What is most characteristic of Red Cedar is that it sounds broken-in, even when new.
Redwood: It has more richness in the bass than cedar. Redwood responds to subtle playing with a crisp balanced sound.
The bass response is particularly round and full with a piano-like crispness. Its not a very strong wood because of this (as with cedar), some Luthiers recommend light gauge strings only on guitars with these tops.
Western Larch: It is an appropriate choice for scalloped braced models yielding a projective and crisp response.
Koa: Koa produces a predominately bright treble response with less volume than spruce, but the slight loss in volume is overshadowed by the extreme beauty of the grain.
Genuine Mahogany: Tonally, mahogany is less projective than spruce, producing a subdued response that is crisp and delicate with emphasis on the midrange.