What's your acoustic sound?
Guitar Tonewoods
The woods your guitar is made from have a profound impact upon its tone; here Mark shares some of his own extensive experience of different tonewoods, which may help you find 'THAT' guitar, which is a perfect match for your voice or playing style.
Sinker Redwood - My Brook Tavy, 'Autumn'
Sitka Spruce, here on my Furch Red Deluxe GC-SR
Koa; such an exotic wood. This is my Taylor GS mini
African Mahogany, and this one is a
particularly striking top, with huge flames running the full length of the body.
This is my Taylor AD27e.
Different Woods DEFINITELY = Different Tones
Introduction
First of all, I'm not going to claim to be a guitar construction expert, though I do know something about it, having been friends with one of England's finest luthiers, Roger Williams (now retired) for many years. I even thought that I might be able to make a guitar myself at one point, but Roger (bless him) kept me on the straight and narrow, away from scary things like routers and glue!
What I can offer however, is a significant amount of hands-on experience of playing guitars made from a wide variety of different wood combinations, and have owned over 50 guitars in my life (I don't still have them all - honestly!). I will try to impart my knowledge over these pages, but if you have any specific questions that I don't answer here, I'll be happy to try to do that - simply email me.
I will be talking about all-solid wood guitars, in the main. Laminated guitars can be fine instruments with a solid wood top, but the tonal difference between laminated Rosewood and laminated Mahogany on the back and sides is far less profound than with solid wood, where tonal differences are often
striking. The top wood, however, has by far the greatest impact upon a guitar's tone.
Walnut back - a rather dry, transparent tone, but articulate and clear. This guitar is a Sheeran by Lowden S4.
Flamed Maple - seen here on my Taylor 614ce 2000-Ltd.
Maple has a strong attack, and a short decay time, meaning that notes are punchy and clear, and cut through a mix well, if you're playing with other musicians. It is more midrange focused.
It's such a beautiful tonewood.
More to follow...
Let's Talk Tops
I'm not referring to T-shirts or vests - the top wood of the guitar (the side with the soundhole for those new to this) has probably 80% (opinions may differ here) of the impact when it comes to shaping the tone your guitar will produce. If you like a wide dynamic range, then the Spruce family or Western Red Cedar will give you that. Cedar slightly darker in colour, sounding full and loud right at the
beginning of your guitar's life, and whilst it may improve with age, it won't be as noticeable as the tonal changes with Spruce, which is renowned for 'opening up' with age. Some will cite pre- world war two Martin guitars as a prime example, and older guitars are often sought after because that ageing process has already taken place. It's basically a drying out of the wood, over time, which lends to a richer, more mature tone. One of my very first high end guitars was a Taylor 514c, which has a Cedar top, and is a truly wonderful instrument for fingerstyle, with every note chiming beautifully, but it really didn't like my (perhaps heavy handed) strumming, and it quickly loses focus and clarity. I still have that guitar - it would take a lot to part me from it, even though it's one of my 'vampires' - in a coffin-like case and doesn't really see the light of day - sadly not on stage anymore.
Many guitar manufacturers now use 'Torrefication' where the wood is dried out in a kiln, to effectively 'age' the guitar woods before the instrument is built, and it can make a profound difference to the tone. This may be a new practice but it's here to stay.
Going back to the actual woods, Spruce has a higher headroom that Cedar, meaning that it can be played with a heavier attack before the notes/chords kind of trample over each other and the 'clean' tone breaks up. There a many different types of Spruce, and choice is highly subjective. Sitka Spruce is a great all-rounder, capable of delivering punchy tone which picked or strummed, and yet can be subtle and sweet for fingerstyle. Adirondack or Red Spruce has a higher headroom even than Sitka, and is prized by bluegrass players, whilst Englemann and European Spruce is more subtle and will given you the sweetest tones when picked lightly. Other Spruces
include Dolomite Spruce, from high in the mountains, and Swiss Moon Spruce, which is cut at the precise time in the lunar cycle when the moon's gravitational pull reduces the sap in the tree, thus helping to produce a more mature tone. I owned a guitar with such a top, and it was an incredible sounding instrument; unfortunately I couldn't get on with the chunky neck it had.
Hardwood tops are a different breed altogether. The tone is very different from Spruce, and has a natural compression that can smooth out some playing imperfections; Mahogany is perhaps the most widely used hardwood top, and for many decades has been favoured by jazz and blues players, and for recording, where they are less likely to overload the signal and thus produce a reliable recorded tone. Koa - only found growing in Hawaii - is a visually striking wood that has become incredibly popular, and also has genuine compression, with perhaps less of a bass output that Mahogany and definitely far less than Spruce. I have owned a number of Koa guitars over the years, and in truth only three of them have ever given me what I wanted in terms of tone, but - confession time (!) - I bought them for their visual impact more than their inherent compression. I use mainly Mahogany or Koa guitars when recording, though on the album I am producing for 2026, I will be playing a variety of guitars - I'll list those instruments on the cover, so see if you can tell which one is which!
Mahogany - Furch Pioneer
Sitka Spruce - Furch Red Deluxe
Western Red Cedar - Furch Yellow OM
Koa - Taylor 724ce
You can see from the images above that each wood has its own visual qualities; it is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so again the aesthetics of each guitar will once again be a personal preference. Many years ago, when I began performing live, I was one of the few players around with a Koa guitar, and I can't recall a single night when someone didn't remark on its beauty. These days, one can see a lot of guitars with darker tops, and I do wonder whether this is because visual impact is desired more than before? I have to confess that in those days I used my striking Koa instrument almost like a shield, as my confidence was not what is has become.
I recall a night over 20 years ago, when I was support act to the late, great David Mallett. Dave and his UK agent stayed at my home overnight after the gig, and we were trying out each other's guitars - Dave had a Martin D-18 then - and he'd borrowed the Martin D-42 I owned at that time as a second instrument on stage. When he picked up my Koa, Dave's face broke into a huge grin and he said "Now this is a real front man's guitar!" When he played it though, he quickly remarked that he much preferred the wide dynamic range of a spruce top to the very compressed Koa, adding that it would be great for blues or possibly recording. Many of my later songs on YouTube were recorded with my Taylor 724ce, which is has a reliable tone - it has great stability and, surprisingly for a Koa guitar, it has a nice hard bass attack, though it's certainly nothing like any of my Spruce and Cedar instruments. It also plays very nicely so there's less chance of a dead note due to (my poor!) technique.
Sinker Redwood - my Brook Tavy, 'Autumn'
...this was during the build process...it plays a lot better now than it did then!
Sinker Redwood gets is name from the Metasequoia Redwood trees that sank to the bottom of a river after being felled, subsequently lying in the mud and silt on the river bed for many years. The wood here on my Brook Tavy 'Autumn' came from a river in Northern California, where it had laid since around the time of the American Civil War, eventually being recovered when the river was dredged late in the 20th century. The streaks you can see in what might otherwise be a fairly plain wood, are the result of the log absorbing the mud and minerals therein, effectively dyeing the wood as the water pushed it along the grain. The tree may well have been over 100 years old at the time it was felled, so in 2025 that means it could be 200 years old - truly ancient.
The tone of Sinker Redwood is highly regarded, with it typically having much of the bold openness of Cedar, with a higher headroom, so the guitar is less prone to losing focus if strummed hard. Every note on this incredible guitar sounds full and thick, with a clean attack and a long decay time. I wish I'd discovered Sinker Redwood many years earlier, as I would have had this guitar made years ago, but then maybe it wouldn't be what it is today, as other factors might have impacted on its tone or aesthetics. It's one of those times when I simply give thanks that I own this wonderful instrument, and I guess if I were ever stranded on a desert island, this would be the guitar I'd want with me.
It's a wood that works extremely well with Indian Rosewood back and sides, the depth and clarity of the Rosewood providing a rich sweetness to the tone, which I would describe as 'dark and woody'. As you can see, its visual appeal is enhanced by the abalone
inlays.
Finally, coming soon, Maple...There are other woods used for tops, but unless I've spent a great deal of time playing them, I don't want to give an opinion as that would be somewhat false. I'm no expert, but I know what I like, and can describe its tonal properties, so after Maple, as the old adage goes, I'm going to "quit while I'm ahead"!
I will then move onto tonewoods for the back and sides, which do have a 'colouring' impact upon the tone of your guitar