Tonewood is a special wood variety with unique tonal qualities. The tonal qualities make them a good choice for acoustic stringed instruments. Best tone wood produces well-sounding instruments.
Tonewoods are usually classified into softwoods and hardwoods. Softwood is a great choice for soundboards which transmit the vibration of strings. Hardwood is the best choice for the body of the stringed instruments.
Best tone wood for Body of stringed instruments
Basswood – Basswood is an affordable luthier tonewood, associated with mid-level instruments. Basswood is a standard choice among luthiers that gives out excellent results. It’s a softwood with a pretty light color but has a good tonal quality. Basswood instruments yield good dynamics and definition to the sound.
Mahogany – Mahogany is one of the popular guitar tonewoods, which is a great choice in both slab and laminated bodies. Mahogany is one of the best tonewood for sale in the USA. The wood gives a pretty warm tone, well-balanced with good grind and bite.
Rosewood – Rosewood is a prized luthier tonewood, which turns into a heavy and overly-bright sounding instrument. It’s an expensive choice, typically with an interesting look and a great tone.
Best tonewoods for tops of stringed instruments
Spruce – Spruce is a popular guitar tonewoods in the USA. Spruce top supports different playing styles and renowned for its dynamic range. Sitka Spruce is considerably available in the USA and the majority of the luthiers make it a good choice for guitar wood tops.
Koa – Koa is one of the best tonewood when combined with the right woods. The woodworks out miracles when paired up with excellent body wood. The tone is crisp, with extraordinary clarity of rosewood. Koa is a dazzling choice for tops, giving you a warm feeling, as long as you play the instrument.
Adirondack – it’s also called as Eastern redwood. Adirondack is a popular tonewood for sale in the USA. It’s popularly referred to as the king of Spruces. The tonewood is relatively stiff with strong features and tends to be loudest than all other spruces.
Best Tonewoods for Back and sides
Walnut – Walnut tonewood is a popular tone wood for sale in the USA. The tonewood has a similar density and grain structure of Koa wood. The tonal quality falls between Mahogany and Rosewood. Walnut and Cedar combination is spectacular and sounds amazing.
Cherry – Cherry has unique density and assures a reflectivity approach as that of Maple tonewood. Cherry is a popular choice among luthiers tonewood and it’s easily available in the USA. The tonewood has high clarity in the bass and mid-range frequencies. The tonewood finishes out well into lovely red color over time.
Maple – Maple is transparent tone wood guitar, with low velocity and high internal damping. Maple has a bright sound and fewer overtones than another medium - density woods. Maple has different varieties and popular among luthiers for larger guitars.
Best Tonewood for fingerboards
Cocobolo – Cocobolo tonewood gives a stunning look with its exotic color. The tonewood looks nice on the fingerboard, but slightly harder to glue because of its high oil content. The oily nature reduces overtones and achieves a balanced tone for wood guitar. Cocobola is a popular tonewood for sale that sounds similar to rosewood.
Purple Heart – Purple Heart tonewood has high-strength properties, making it the right choice for well-sounding guitars. Purple Heart is a durable choice among guitar tonewoods. The guitar has an attractive tone with a little bit of metal or rock tone; it has a brighter and crispy tone similar to Maple.
Ebony – Ebony has smooth playing qualities with plenty of brightness in terms of tone and feel. The ebony fingerboard is an excellent choice for a simply brighter guitar tone!! Ebony is a popular choice among luthiers tonewood because of its heavy and dense nature accompanied by superior bond strength.
Single –piece tone wood is often an expensive and rare choice among luthiers. So, go for multi-piece tonewood concepts, for an excellent sounding instrument.
Wood is a prominent raw-material in the production of instruments. There are different types of tonewoods and instrument wood used by instrument makers for decades. Few wood types are close to extinction and no longer used in the wood market in the USA. So, check for the availability of best tonewoods and get the right choice of wood from the world’s best supplier!!
