List of Woods Covered
Ervin Somagyi had this wisdom to impart:
"As a guitar maker, I prefer woods that are live, regardless of their grain, figure, or color. What that means in practical terms is that one will be able to get a live and musical tone from a particular slice or chunk of wood when tapping on it. The reason some woods are called tonewoods is because they literally produce a musical note. And this quality, when used to make a guitar soundbox, will make a better and more acoustically active guitar than would be the case if the woods used made some kind of thud or thunk when tapped.
There are live woods that look rather plain, while there are 'dead' woods that look like Raquel Welch in 3-D. Fine for making furniture, the flash and beauty of the latter have an obvious appeal, and many guitars get made simply because their visual gorgeousness will be a strong selling point. ...
Though the acoustic properties of a given wood might make it a joy for a guitar maker to work with, marketing a new wood can be tricky. No one will have heard of it—much less have had experience with it—so the buying public will probably be resistant to accepting it.
That said, making guitars with...(substitute any given wood)... for the back and sides should not be much of an impediment for younger guitar makers who are still establishing their reputations and styles. It’s the more established guitar makers like myself who meet the greatest resistance to anything new, since we already have reputations for using this wood or that wood, or have a familiar style or feature associated with our work."
"I wanted to thank you for your website, it is an oasis of knowledge. I am a humble wood lover hack luthier and noise maker. It is so great to read your work, thank you humbly." Dave
An * designates wood used for tops.
And ** is for woods used both for tops and back & sides.
Ervin Somagyi had this wisdom to impart:
"As a guitar maker, I prefer woods that are live, regardless of their grain, figure, or color. What that means in practical terms is that one will be able to get a live and musical tone from a particular slice or chunk of wood when tapping on it. The reason some woods are called tonewoods is because they literally produce a musical note. And this quality, when used to make a guitar soundbox, will make a better and more acoustically active guitar than would be the case if the woods used made some kind of thud or thunk when tapped.
There are live woods that look rather plain, while there are 'dead' woods that look like Raquel Welch in 3-D. Fine for making furniture, the flash and beauty of the latter have an obvious appeal, and many guitars get made simply because their visual gorgeousness will be a strong selling point. ...
Though the acoustic properties of a given wood might make it a joy for a guitar maker to work with, marketing a new wood can be tricky. No one will have heard of it—much less have had experience with it—so the buying public will probably be resistant to accepting it.
That said, making guitars with...(substitute any given wood)... for the back and sides should not be much of an impediment for younger guitar makers who are still establishing their reputations and styles. It’s the more established guitar makers like myself who meet the greatest resistance to anything new, since we already have reputations for using this wood or that wood, or have a familiar style or feature associated with our work."
"I wanted to thank you for your website, it is an oasis of knowledge. I am a humble wood lover hack luthier and noise maker. It is so great to read your work, thank you humbly." Dave
An * designates wood used for tops.
And ** is for woods used both for tops and back & sides.
Acacia
Achihua *Adirondack Red Spruce African Blackwood African Walnut Afzelia (Makamong) *Agathis *Alaskan Yellow Cedar Alder Amazon Rosewood Angelique Apple Ash Australian Blackwood (Black Acacia) *Australian Red Cedar Avocado Avodire Balsamo Barba Joleta **Basswood Bastogne Walnut Beech Beefwood Belah Big Leaf Maple Birch Black Acacia Black Chacate Black Ebony Black-Hearted Sassafras Black Limba (Korina) Black Locust (Acacia) Black Mulga Bloodwood Blue Gum Euclyptus Blue Mahoe Blue Spruce Bocote Bois D’Rose (Pallisander) Bolivian Cedar Bosse Boxelder Boxwood Brazilian Cherry Brazilian Rosewood Bubinga (African Rosewood) Buckeye *Bunya Burmese Rosewood Butternut (White Walnut) Cachimbo Camatillo Cambodian Beng Canalete Canarywood Candlenut Capriona **Carbon Fiber *Carpathian Spruce Catahua Catalpa Cedro Cha Chen Chatke Viga Cherry Chesnut Chinese Pistache Claro Walnut Cocobolo (Granadillo) Cooba Copaiba Cuban Mahogany Curupau **Cypress Desert Ironwood (Palo Fierro) Dogwood *Douglas Fir Dragonwood East Indian Rosewood Ebiara Ebony Elm *Englemann Spruce (Italian, Alpine, European, Silver) English Oak English Walnut Espave Estoraque Eucalyptus European Beech Fir Flamewood Franquette Walnut Freijo |
Gidgee
Goncalo Alves (Tigerwood, South American Zebrawood) Granadillo Pittier Grenadillo Guanacaste Guatemalan Rosewood Heart Rimu Hemlock Hickory Higurerilla **Honduran Mahogany Honduran Rosewood Hormigo Horse Chesnut *Huon Pine Hymiwood Imbuya (Imbuia, Brazilian Walnut) Inceana Indian Rosewood Ipe (Brazilian Walnut, Lapacho) Ishpingo Isigo Jacaranda (Indonesian Rosewood) Jarrah Jatoba (Brazilian Cherry) Juniper Katalox Kauri Kembang Semangkok Kentucky Coffeewood Keyaki Kiaat *King Billy Pine Kingwood Knysna Blackwood **Koa Lacewood (Leopardwood) Lapacho Larch Laurel Laurel-leafed Willow Leopardwood Lignum Vitae Limba Linden Locust Longan *Lutz Spruce Lychee Macacauba Macassar Ebony Machiche Madagascar Rosewood Madrone (Strawberry Tree) Magnolia **Mahogany Makore (African Cherry, Douka, Baku, Cherry Mahogany) Malaysian Blackwood Manchinga **Mango Maple (Birdseye, Curly,Flamed) Meranti Mesquite Moabi Moena Amarillo **Monkeypod (Rain Tree, Trembesi) Mopane **Monteray Cypress Morado Mountain Ash Movingui (African Satinwood) Mun Ebony Mulberry Mutenye Myrtle (Pepperwood, Bay Laurel) Narra (Amboyna, Angsana) Nato (Nyatoh) Nikko "Namili" Cedar Northern Silky Oak *Norway Spruce Oak Ohia **Okoume Olivewood Osage Orange (Bois D'Arc) Ovangkol (Shedua) |
Paduak
Paldao Palisander Palo Escrito (Mexican Rosewood) Panama Rosewood Panguana Parguana Pashaco Amarillo Pashaco Negra Pau Ferro (Morado, Bolivian Rosewood) **Paulownia Pau Rosa Pau Santo Pear Perambuco (Brazilwood) Persimmon Peruvian Rosewood Peruvian Walnut Pistachio Plum Poplar (Burled) **Port Orford Cedar Primavera (Spring or Paradise Wood) Pumaquiro Purple Gidgee Purpleheart Queensland Maple Quillabordon *Red Cedar Red Gum Euclyptus Redheart Red Myrtle (Tasmlanian Tiger Myrtle, Myrtle Beech - now, that's funny) *Redwood (Sinker) Rengas Requia Sacha Sapele Satinwood (Movingui) Sequoia Shedua (Ovankol) Shihuahuaco Silver Acacia Silver Oak (Silky Oak) Sipo Siris Sitka Spruce Snakewood (Letterwood, Lacewood, Amourette) Sneezewood **Southern Yellow Pine **Spanish Cedar **Spanish Cypress Striped Ebony Sweet Cherry Sycamore Tambotie Tamarack (Larch) Tamarind Tasmanian Blackwood (Black Acacia) Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle Tigerwood Tigrillo Tornillo Trembesi (MonkeyPod) Tulip Magnolia Tulipwood T'zalam (Caribbean Walnut, et. al.) Umthunzi Urban Ironbark (Eucalyptus) Vanuatu Blackwood Voamboana Walnut (Claro, Black) Wandoo Wenge White Oak *White Pine *Western Larch *Western Red Cedar Western Sheoak Willow (see Laurel-leafed Willow) *Yellow Cedar (Canadian Cypress) Yellow Heart (Pau Amarello) Yew Zapatero Zebrawood Ziricote |