Guitar Tonewood FAQ

Yes, but everything about the guitar matters to the final sound you hear. Different woods have different properties that contribute to the overall sound of a guitar. Some contributions are so tiny, it’s arguable whether or not the human ear can actually detect them.

There is no “best” wood for guitars. Certain wood combinations produce a guitar that sounds appealing to most players, which explains why those woods are so popular.

It’s hard to declare a “winner” because every builder and major manufacturer uses different wood combinations. Some popular combinations are; ash or alder body with a maple neck; mahogany body with maple cap, mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard.

Yes. However, some types of wood produce better results than others. For example, hard maple makes a great guitar neck, but a big slab of solid maple makes for a very heavy guitar, not to mention how it impacts the sound.

Here’s my advice- it’s your guitar, build it with any wood you like. Be prepared to make a few duds while learning which wood combinations you like. Also, be prepared to be told that your unusual wood choice is “not wood used for guitars”.

In some cases yes, but not always. That’s admittedly a wishy-washy answer, but one person’s “better” is different from the next. It’s generally accepted that acoustic guitars sound better with age. If you want to start a good internet fistfight, ask someone if the same is true for electric guitars.

What is true is that as wood ages, the moisture content continues to decrease, cell walls harden, and resins crystalize. These changes make the wood lighter, harder, and therefore more resonant. This aging process can be sped up through Torification.

That’s a little bit like asking “which sandwich has the most yummy”.

The real answer takes a little explanation. Sustain is a string’s ability to continue vibrating. Anything that deadens that vibration will reduce sustain. So what encourages a string to keep vibrating?

A stiff neck will keep strings vibrating longer, which is why you see a lot of maple necks and don’t see many made out of softwoods like pine.

Attach a maple neck to a styrofoam body you still won’t have much sustain, which means a rigid, dense body is also important. A solid oak body will sustain for days, but the weight and incredibly bright tone are less than ideal. Somewhere between styrofoam and solid oak is something like mahogany, a great choice that has good sustain combined with a nice weight.