tone woods

Hello again, and welcome to the sixth installment of Luthier’s Corner. This month, I’d like to discuss a topic that craftsmen and luthiers have dealt with for eons, that of tone woods. Or rather, address questions that I am often asked regarding tone woods, such as “what makes one wood a tone wood over that which isn’t?” “What are the differences in the various species of tone woods?” etc.

When it comes to knowing what a tone wood is, it’s also important to know what type of wood is NOT considered a tone wood. This will save a lot of headache for you, in case you decide to build a guitar out something like teak, NOT a tone wood. Now when I first started building guitars, I went by what I was told or read as to what the most common tone woods are to start with, which was a short list being maple, mahogany, ash, alder, rosewood and ebony. As time went on, and as I did more research and experimenting, I found that there are a LOT of useful tone woods out there that not only sound fantastic, but many of which have some gorgeous colors and grains. Bear in mind also that part of this search for alternative woods was due to many of the tone woods, referenced early on to me, either becoming endangered or even extinct. This does not mean that one can’t build a fine playing and sounding guitar, because they can’t get their hands on a piece of Brazilian Rosewood anymore without paying through the nose. It simply means that you should look at it as an opportunity to “think outside the box.” Conversely, there have been countless guitars built over the years that have used timber that normally would not be considered tone woods, and are some of the most glorious sounding guitars ever!

The perfect example is Brian May’s Red Special. Those that know me know that I regard that particular guitar as one of the greatest innovative guitars ever built, but what were the woods used? Would you believe that the body was basically plywood and a slab of red oak? More specifically, the main body frame was built from 2 pieces of blockboard, commonly used for doors, bolted together, and a center core of red oak! The neck was made from 100 year old mahogany that was actually not a very good piece to start with, and the fingerboard, although looking like ebony, is actually red oak painted almost black! Now listen to any Queen record and tell me that guitar doesn’t sound incredible!! The point is that although there is a certain “list” of tone woods that are instrument grade, that does not mean that one cannot use alternative materials or woods to build an incredible sounding guitar. I, for instance, have built some of the finest sounding and playing guitars of my career using woods that I bought solely at Home Depot , Builder’s Square, or Lowes, namely poplar, red oak, and maple. Keep in mind also that not only are guitars built from wood, but there are many that are built from materials such as lucite, aluminum, carbon graphite, and other non wood materials.

Teak looks pretty, and is awesome for building boats, but not good for instruments

OK so what are tone woods and what aren’t, and what does each tone wood sound like overall? Well first off, the way to determine if a piece of timber is instrument grade tone wood is to do the tap test. Basically, you hold the piece of wood near your ear and then thump it with your thumb. If you actually hear a certain echoing ring or hum from the wood, it’s a tone wood. Naturally the “tone” of the thump changes as the wood is shaved, carved, etc. If you thump it and all you hear is a thud, and the thud immediately decays, it’s furniture grade wood, not tone wood. This is important because the last thing you want to do is use a slab of wood that looks gorgeous, but causes your guitar to have no resonance, sustain, or musical quality, hence my earlier teak reference. Teak is the perfect example of a tonally dead piece of wood. It looks pretty, and is awesome for building boats, but not good for instruments. Another thing you want to remember is that the best type of wood to use for building an instrument is hard wood, not soft woods, such as pine, fir, white wood, etc. Of course, again, depending on the application, there are exceptions to every rule. After all, Leo Fender built the first Broadcaster prototype with a pine body. Depending on the application, one could get away with using a wood such as pine, if it’s not for a structural part, such as the neck. That’s why you’ll never see any guitar built entirely out of balsa!

OK, so due to various species of timber becoming endangered, luthiers and companies started looking for various alternative woods that are of instrument grade quality. And guess what, some of the most beautiful looking and sounding woods are exotic pieces that look as if they were dyed or painted their unusual colors, and also are some of my favorites! Hey, I’m old school, so if I have my preference, I would want stacks of good Brazilian mahogany, Brazilian rosewood, and curly maple. But, 2 of those species are highly endangered. Care to guess which 2? Hint, they are both Brazilian. However, over the years, I have come to fall in love with certain exotics that are as toneful and strong as they are gorgeous to look at. One of my favorites is purpleheart, so named because it literally is purple in color. Very dense, and very heavy, it makes a great tone wood, but I would NEVER build an entire guitar out of due to its weight. No, I usually prefer to build my guitars using multiple pieces of wood so that I can create a sort of tone wood mosaic, which also helps keep the weight in check. Other exotics that I absolutely love are paduak, which has a sort of orangey brownish orange color to it, also very dense, but not as heavy as purpleheart.

Then there is wenge, which has contrasting dark and light chocolate brown streaks in it. Another gorgeous tone wood. Of course, one of my all time favorites, albeit a bit on the pricey side, is cocobolo. Just Google Cocobolo and look at a picture of it. The colors and grain are breathtaking! Dark browns, with light beige streaks, long sweeping cathedral grains, simply amazing! There is also zebrano, or zebrawood, which looks as it sounds, like a zebra wood, dark and light streaks of color that look so evenly spaced, it’s amazing. Then there are other exotics I also love working with that have beautiful color but perhaps not as fancy a grain, such as bubinga, which has a sort of pinkish hue to the color. Sometimes you can find a piece that has some nice curl in the grain. That’s always cool.

OK so you’re wondering what are the tonal differences between all these woods? Well, in a nutshell, the tonality of a particular piece of wood is dependent on certain factors, such as density, grain structure, and weight. Short grained, porous woods, such as mahogany, tend to sound a bit darker or muddy due to how the string resonance actually gets “sucked” into the pores of the wood. Listen to a guitar that has an all mahogany body versus a similar guitar with an all maple body. They sound completely different. The mahogany will tend to sound bassier and thicker, whereas the maple body will tend to sound brighter and punchier. That’s because maple is a long grain, tight pore wood. Long grain woods tend to be brighter, with a tighter bass resonance and brighter highs. That’s one of the reasons that one of the most popular combinations are mahogany bodies with a maple top. It’s a perfect blend of deep, yet tight bass response, while having thicker, yet more defined highs and mids.

Well, it seems that I really went long with this article, so in the next issue, I will discuss the further tonal differences between the various exotic and domestic timbers used in instrument making.

Once again, thanks for reading my column and remember no task worth accomplishing is ever achieved if not pursued with fierce dedication. Believe in yourself, and make happen that glorious noise called music! Until next time, remember, there is nothing you can't do if you set your mind to it! Cheers!!