Selecting Tone Woods. While there are many tone woods available, they can be separated into two categories: top woods and set woods. Set woods are used for the sides and back of a guitar. Sitka spruce is the most common wood used in top wood. It imparts a great tone with good headroom, as well as a dependable volume. Sitka spruce is also the most common bracing wood used in guitars today. Englemans spruce is a cleaner sound board but as more sound distortion on harder styles of music. I think this is the top of choice for a fingerpicker. Adirondack spruce is the Cadillac of top woods, but is scarce and difficult to attain.

Selecting Wood. What makes some wood better than others for guitars? First, the grain. You want quarter sawn wood. This means that the grain should run as vertical as possible through the wood. If you liken the grain to a stack of paper, you would want the paper to be on edge. If you were looking at wood that is flat sawn it would be like looking at the page. This is not good for building guitars.

Next we need to discuss run out. This is the grain going in and out of the board. Again using the paper description if you had the pages on edge a perfect board would be all the pages on edge all the way down the board. Well this just doesn't happen with a tree. The grain will run on and off. Look for wood with as little run out as possible. By following this rule you help yourself making better guitars.

Next is internal flaws. Often a tree is stressed. Either by wind, damage etc. When the tree heals, these area will have a pitch pocket. This is most true to the conifers. You can detect this defect by CANDLING. You hold the wood up to a very bright light. The pitch pocket will show as a dark area. While it may not look pretty it isn't going to hurt if it is a small area. You may be able to hide it under a pick guard or inside the guitar. It is something to consider when selecting wood.

Wood Thickness Specs. The Specs for guitar woods for typical flat tops are:

Side wood .090 +/- .010
Backs .125 +/- .010
Tops .115 to .130

Many guitar players and builders thirst for that perfect guitar. What makes a perfect guitar is debatable, but quality materials and workmanship play an important part. Brazilian rosewood (BRW) has long been the Holy Grail of builders and players. But with the CITIES treaty and the lack of quality BRW, the makers of instruments have been searching for other tone woods.

I personally have used East Indian, Brazilian, maple, and American woods like walnut and cherry. The other woods like poplar and basswood aren't worth mentioning. The East Indian is a good tone wood and is long time favorite. We are just too picky with wood and ignore the possibilities of other available woods.

Cherry and walnut are two fantastic woods to work with. Cherry is up there with the best and walnut is one of my personal favorites. I haven't used Honduran rosewood yet but I did order some and plan to try it very soon. However, when it comes right down to it, the best guitars are influenced by bracing and tops. The harder woods are best suited for the sides and back because, acoustically speaking, they reflect the energy more efficiently. So if you are using other woods give this some thought and adjust the bracing to compensate. I have used a number of combinations to help the sound. On the scalloped bracing I have lightened them about twenty percent more than the Martin standard. I have also tapered some from the X joint out to the box wall. I taper about 1/8-inch over the length. This allows more freedom for the top to move. Also glues can add to the dampening effect. The white glues and hide glues are the best. Yellow glue is a little too spongy for bracing, although it is a strong glue for kerfing and permanent bonding. While this is my opinion you must develop your own thoughts on this subject and experiment.

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