Tone woods

Choice of tone woods

Soundboard

Usually used woods would be spruce and red cedar.

Spruce is the traditionally prefered tone wood which has been used for centuries for lutes, violins and guitars as well. Aside of the german spruce (which in fact rarely comes from Germany, but other european countries) one can use american species as well, for instants Sitka spruce or Engelmann spruce. While Sitka spruce is somewhat darker in appearance and even more stable than the european cousin Engelmann spruce is very light and a little softer.
Red Cedar is an valuable alternative, which has become very popular in the last 50 years. Maybe this is due to its very short or no break-in time and a warm sound with good volume.
Beside this woods there is Yellow Cedar from Alaska or Redwood from the westcoast of the US which also serve well as soundboard woods.


German Spruce	Sitka Spruce	Engelmann Spruce

Red Cedar (darker)	Red Cedar (fairer)	Yellow Cedar	Redwood

Back/Sides

Traditionally used woods are maple oder rosewood. The brazilian rosewood which was the most sought tone wood for guitars has nearly vanished, so indian rosewood is now used instead.

But there are more alternative hardwoods which are well suited for instrument building: Ovangkol, Bubinga, Cherry, Walnut and others. Even Yellow Cedar (in spite of the name no cedar but a cypress), which also can be used for soundboards is a valuable candidate.


Indian Rosewood	Maple flamed	Cherry	Ovangkol

Peruvian Walnut	Bubinga natural	Bubinga tinted	Yellow Cedar tinted