Tonewood #4
Tonewood
We produce Furch guitars using the finest raw materials from duly verified suppliers from throughout the world. Almost 60 m3 of material is required for their production each year, while exotic wood forms almost two thirds of that amount.
We make great effort to compensate both society and nature for the consumption of these valuable raw materials through our work with the Arimae community in Panama, which comprises local families who engage in the protection of tropical forests and the planting and care of exotic woods with an emphasis on their sustainable development.
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As part of our financial support we help the community take care of four hectares of cocobolo trees (dalbergia retusa), and two hectares of mahogany (swietenia macrophylla) with a total average growth of 39 m3.
Premium Quality Tonewoods
The sound of every guitar mainly depends on its construction. The species and quality of tonewoods used are an important part of it. With that in mind, we pay meticulous attention to select the best possible materials. The tonewoods used in building Furch guitars come from five continents. We have a sorting process that includes several stages during which a number of parameters are evaluated. These parameters differ slightly for tonewoods used to make the top, the sides, and the back. Our partners are the world’s leading suppliers, which guarantees that Furch instruments are made of the very best tonewoods.
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If you’re searching for the best guitar wood supplier near you, look no further than California exotic hardwoods.com. We specialize in providing premium, exotic hardwoods that are perfect for crafting high-quality, resonant guitar bodies and necks, catering to the needs of luthiers and musicians alike.
To achieve optimal acoustic response, the soundboard of nearly all our guitars is made from soft tonewoods with pronounced parallel grain. The key characteristics of the soundboard on which the evaluation process is focused include rigidity, the concentricity, regularity, thickness, and cross-sectional perpendicularity of annual rings, the evenness of color across the entire top plate, and the presence of imperfections in the wood that give every soundboard a unique look.
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Tonewoods used in making the soundboard of Furch guitars are classified according to quality using the following grading scale: master grade, AAA, AA, A+.
The back and sides of Furch guitars are made from tonewoods originating in various parts of the world. The density and grain patterns of these woods differ considerably, and their physical properties are consequently more diverse than the parameters of woods used in making the top plate. Tonewoods for the back are carefully assessed with regard to rigidity, grain pattern, and presence of imperfections.
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Tonewoods used in making the back and sides of Furch guitars are classified according to quality using the following grading scale: master grade, AAA, AA, A.
The highest quality premium tonewoods are mainly reserved for crafting custom Rainbow Series guitars. They pass a multi-stage selection process, and their quality ranges from AAA to master grade.
What are tonewoods?
Tonewoods are specific woods that have been chosen for, you guessed it, their tone, amongst other properties. They make up the guitar’s body, neck, fretboard, and headstock, and depending on whereabouts it’s used, each wood has different qualities.
Why are they important?
When it comes to tone, the body top is the most vital part of the guitar. And so, it’s the tonewood which is used for the top that really shapes your sound. Also known as the “soundboard”, the top vibrates with the help of bracing beneath, allowing strumming and picking styles to be projected.
As the top vibrates, so does the rest of the body, and so it’s important to consider the back and sides’ wood as well as the top.
For example, a guitar with a spruce soundboard and mahogany back and sides (a popular combination) would produce the articulate, dynamic voice of spruce with an undercurrent of mahogany’s warmth and resonance.
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The neck of a guitar needs to be strong enough to withstand string tension and frequent playing. This can also be said for the fretboard, which, additionally, needs to be able to handle the attack of your fingertips and offer smooth playability. Examples of fretboard woods are rosewood, maple, and more premium options like ebony.
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Popular tonewoods for acoustic guitars
So, now you know why they’re important, let’s dive into some of the most common tonewoods. We’ll discuss which part of the guitar they’re used for, their sound, and which genres of music they thrive with.
Spruce
A body top go-to, spruce comes in a few different forms.
First off, there’s Sitka spruce, which delivers supremely broad dynamics and clear articulation – making it versatile enough for a range of playing styles. It’s a common soundboard wood for many guitar manufacturers as its balanced tone and sharp clarity can bring any strumming or picking technique to life.
If you’re after something with a little more volume, Adirondack spruce is a good choice. Adirondack delivers even more dynamics, whilst still retaining spruce’s renowned, glistening clarity. This makes it perfect for heavier playing styles.
Alternatively, another excellent option is Engelmann spruce, which is rarer than its cousins. Its tone is mature and rich, ideal for players who want something that sounds slightly older and like it’s already been ‘played in’.
And like the other species of spruce, Engelmann’s versatility is well suited to a range of playing styles.
Mahogany
A common body wood, mahogany is primarily known for its emphasised mid-range frequencies and balanced tonal character, as well as its beautiful reddish-brown colour.
Not only is it warm in looks, but it’s warm in sound too. As well as pronounced mids, mahogany resonates with a rich tone that adds depth and body to chords.
It’s usually paired with a spruce top for some added articulation and sparkle in the treble or kept as an all-mahogany build for luscious sound.
As mahogany matures, the sound becomes more focused, giving you tighter and more articulate tones to work with. It suits blues and folk music brilliantly.
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Rosewood
Rosewood is typically used for the fretboard of an acoustic guitar, and sometimes the body.
It’s a tonewood that’s well versed in the art of sparkly, snappy sound, which makes it a keen contender for fretboards.
You’ll usually come across Indian rosewood, as opposed to Brazilian rosewood, as it’s easier to produce.
Expect a full low end with glistening highs – rosewood balances clear brightness with a rich resonance. This means that whether you’re sliding right to the top frets or strumming chords at the bottom, every note will ring out with equal power and clarity.
Rosewood is exceptionally versatile, so whatever genre you prefer – a rosewood fretboard will serve you well.
Maple
The density of maple gives it the quick note decay it’s known for, and this results in a tight, focused tone.
Such clear, sharp sound is ideal for the hollow body of an acoustic as it ensures there’s minimal feedback tainting your music.
In addition to this astoundingly articulate tone, maple’s sonic response is bright, loud, and absent of overtone content.
It’s ideal for live performances and ensures that intricate picking styles slice through the mix with dynamics.
Cedar
A staple tonewood for classical guitars, cedar is less dense than others on the market, and this results in a beautifully rich, dark tone.
It focuses on clarity and quality of sound rather than volume, which makes it perfect for fingerpicking styles.
If you’re a classical player or someone who doesn’t need any serious dynamics, cedar is an excellent choice.
In fact, it’s usually a go-to for many classical guitar manufacturers, offering a sound with character, quality, and plenty of definition.
Ebony
If you’re looking for a guitar with the highest quality of fretboards, ebony is the one for you.
A premium tonewood, ebony has a naturally high oil content which makes for a gorgeously smooth finish.
Ever heard of a ‘fast fretboard’? Chances are it’s crafted from ebony. It’s described as ‘fast’ due to how silky it feels, allowing you to dance seamlessly across the frets.
Ebony is tonally exquisite, too. It produces a bright tone with a strikingly snappy attack, giving every note the clarity it needs to ring out. Plus, ebony is exceptionally durable, meaning it can handle regular playing. Whichever playing style you prefer, an ebony fretboard will deliver.
Sapele
Similar to mahogany, sapele boasts beautifully strong, punchy lows and mids.
Balancing this out, it also delivers superbly defined highs – more so than mahogany.
Its even response across the frequency range ensures you’re granted a thick, warm sound for strumming chords and sparkle for fingerpicking.
With sapele, you can count on excellent versatility to suit a range of genres.
Walnut
Again, a tonewood that’s typically used for the fretboard, walnut delivers a bright, crisp sound with a woody midrange.
Its tone becomes warmer and softer with age.
Walnut is also used for the back and sides of some acoustics, delivering clarity in the high range and presence in the middle.
All these sonic qualities make walnut a good contender for a range of playing styles.
Koa
A slightly less common tonewood, koa originates from Hawaii and makes for the ultimate ukulele wood.
Its tone resides between that of maple and rosewood, delivering a blend of warmth and brightness. Expect richness and clarity in good measure.
Koa delivers the jangly sound typically associated with the uke, and it thrives with both strumming and fingerpicking styles.
Its true beauty, however, lies in its ever-growing nature. The more you play, the more your sound will open up.
There are two schools of thought in guitar back and side design and I will briefly discuss them. One group believes that the back and sides should be very rigid so the energy input of the top can passively reflect off of a very rigid and stiff surface.
The other school of thought is that the sides can be either flexible or rigid and then they are coupled to a flexible back to actively reflect the energy from the top.
Let’s put this in a different light. Let us pretend that the energy produced from the soundboard is a tennis ball bouncing around inside of your guitar. Now, let’s take the tennis ball and toss it at a concrete wall so that it bounces back to you. This would represent sound that is reflected from a rigid but passive back. It bounces back pretty easily, right? Now let’s take that same tennis ball and toss it at a trampoline so that it bounces off of it. Which surface do you think would bounce the tennis ball the furthest? The trampoline would, right? The trampoline would be an analogy of the guitar design using a light, flexible and active back.
The sides and back play differing roles in the acoustic guitar design. The sides, in my opinion, should be extremely stiff and rigid as opposed to flexible. They act to support the top and back of the guitar. The design is comparable to a drum where you have a very rigid rim assembly that supports a thin membrane on the top and bottom of the drum. The guitar sides do just that, support the top and back of the guitar PLUS they act as a structural member that supports the neck system.
The back plays a very active role in the design of the guitar. My theory is that the back wants to be thin and flexible so that it can couple with the top through the air chamber of the body. The back is 180* out of phase with the top to actively reflect the energy that the top produces. As the top moves inward the back moves outward and vice versa. To get an idea of how much of a role the back plays I would encourage you to try this experiment:
Lay your guitar across your lap with the top facing the ceiling. Now strum the open strings with a pick. Grab the headstock with one hand, while you continue to strum. Lift the neck upward so that the back is not touching your lap and observe the change in the sound and volume. As your guitar back is free to vibrate it will couple with the top and become active with the top. You can also repeat the same experiment by laying your guitar in its case and strum the open strings and then lift the neck up so the back is free. This experiment will quickly show you how important a role the back plays in guitar design.
Now that you have done this experiment, think about how this would apply to your guitar playing. How do you hold your guitar? Do you hold it close to your body so that the back is dampened? If so, the sound that you hear is mostly coming from the top of your guitar and your guitar back plays a very small passive role in the sound output of your guitar. The sound can be influenced and colored by the back wood based on the dampening properties of the wood. However, if the back is restricted from vibrating, I believe this will limit the volume and tone that your guitar is capable of producing.
If you play in such a way that the back of your guitar is held away from your body then you can take advantage of the guitar back’s active role in the coupling with the top. This will allow the total sound to couple with the back in such a way that it will “color” the tone of the top and add some rich lushness to the complete tonal package.
I used to think that classical guitarists looked so strange because they would hold their guitar on their left knee. It was only much later that I realized they did this to completely disconnect the guitar back from their body. These players are geniuses They understand the important and active role that the back plays in the output of the guitar. We, steel string players, can learn a thing or two from our nylon string friends!
Now that we have briefly discussed guitar tonewood side and back designs lets look at what we stock and offer our clients here at McKnight Guitars.
What is a Tonewood?
The role and importance of tonewood in the construction of musical instruments
Many instruments are made of wood – and you will often see information on the type of wood an instrument is constructed of, or our teams may talk to you about it when discussing potential options. The reason for this is much like an engine in a car, the construction and quality of the wood an instrument is made from can have a dramatic effect on the quality of the sound and once selected the way the wood is treated is critical. Cheaper instruments tend to have lower quality wood, this can lead to a number of problems and you need to be very careful to select an instrument that suits both your needs and the specifications of the instrument itself.
The term “tonewood” refers to specific wood varieties that possess tonal properties that make them good choices for crafting stringed or woodwind musical instruments. As a rough generalisation, hardwoods are more often preferred for the structural crafting of an instrument, whereas softer woods tend to be used to create soundboards and other surfaces that transmit soundwaves to the air.
Tonewoods are used throughout the musical instrument world – from guitar bodies to tuning pegs on a violin, to the hardened grenadilla bodies used to build beautiful clarinets and of course the beating heart of a piano, the soundboard. This article is designed to help you understand a little better what some of the jargon out there means when referring to these woods!
Why does it matter?
When creating a musical instrument, why should we care about the wood that’s used? Well, wood has a number of properties that mean the choice of timber used will genuinely have an effect on your instrument. As well as being wildly aesthetically different and being a personal preference in terms of looks, the wood used to create an instrument has a large effect on the sound created by said instrument!
It’s also important that you have the right wood for the right component in terms of practicality, and quality of life whilst playing your instrument. A violin tuning peg is designed to jam into place in the instrument – so it’s important that the wood used to create these is a hardwood like ebony, or the peg will slip more often! Additionally, a luthier may choose to use a certain tonewood because of size, stability, grain, or even tradition!
Let’s address some of the most common instruments where choosing the right wood is a big factor.
Is this sustainable?
Understandably in the modern age, a major issue that people may have with looking into wooden instruments is the effect that deforestation has had on the world around us. However, of the tonewoods used to craft such instruments, many often come from sustainable resources and specialist dealers. Spruce is a perfect example of this – while spruce is commonly found throughout the world in mountainous regions, however the price is raised due to the desirable qualities needed for instrument making, such as an even grain in the wood. Many tonewoods are difficult to come by on a regular basis, so many manufacturers have turned to reclamation, using old salmon traps, blown down trees, or old construction materials in the United States. There are also special permits that can be obtained for sustainable removal of wood in conservation areas. Another source worthy of mention is the Fiemme Valley in Northern Italy, where spruce wood has been harvested to a very high quality for centuries, serving to produce Antonio Stradavari’s violins, and in more recent times, the soundboards of Fazioli pianos.
Guitars and Ukuleles
Grouping guitars and ukuleles often display similarities when considering the wood used to make the instrument, and in addition to this, the wood used probably has the greatest effect on the end result! In construction, it’s important to note that the sides and back are built separately from the top, and therefore, often a different wood is used for this purpose. It’s very common for example to see a spruce top guitar with rosewood back and sides – the harder rosewood here being used not only to provide stability for the structural features of the instrument, but also to provide balance between light and mellow tones.
Something else to consider here is the difference between a solid and laminate top, and what this really means practically. Solid and laminate are two terms that are often thrown around quite a lot in the guitar world, so it’s important to have a clear image of what exactly this is referring to. A solid top is very simply put, the top part of the guitar crafted from a single block of wood. The top of the instrument is the most important section to have solid ideally, as this is the immediate surface of which the soundwaves created by the string vibrating will react, giving the best quality sound. A laminate top is as the name may suggest, many layers of wood glued together. There are some sonic differences between the two – generally speaking, a solid top instrument will have a more rounded, enrichened, sweeter tone because of the more resonant qualities of a single chunk of wood. In laminate top instruments, the sound can sometimes get trapped between the layers of wood, which can in turn sacrifice volume.
In terms of choosing a new instrument, some of the most common woods in guitar and ukulele construction are as follows:
Spruce – a lightly coloured wood which gives a sprightly, bright tone, this is one of the most common woods used in manufacturing due to its high versatility and affordability.
Mahogany – with a rich colour, mahogany is easy to spot. It’s a stiff, hard wood that offers a distinctly warm tone.
Rosewood – one of the most highly sought after woods, rosewood is a highly durable wood. Due to CITES regulations, it’s a little harder to find this wood nowadays – however, East Indian Rosewood (EIR) is still fairly available. This wood creates a clear, crisp sound with good consistency across the ranges.
Sapele – This wood is an example of the African alternative options mentioned above. It has extremely similar qualities to Mahogany in both structure and sound, but does deliver more high end quality. It’s a very versatile wood in guitar construction!
Koa – the wood traditionally used in Hawaii for ukulele crafting! This wood has a particularly striking appearance, and requires some attention to bright out the full potential. It’s said by many that this wood particularly mellows over time, but can sound bright out of the box.
Maple – alongside Koa, Maple is a darker wood that offers a crisp, sparkling tone. It shines in the mid-range however, offering a rich warmth to it’s tone that sets it apart.
Pianos
The soundboard of a piano is a large wooden plate used to amplify vibrations caused by the contact between hammer and string. The string gently vibrates the board, and despite their differences in size and composition, makes the board vibrate at exactly the same frequency. This produces the same sound as the string alone, differing only in timbre. The string would produce the same amount of energy without the board present, but the greater surface area of the sound board moves a greater volume of air, which produces a louder sound. Soundboards are usually crafted with spruce, and are layered with heavy glue. A stiffer board will normally give a brighter sound than a more flexible one – giving the individual instrument a distinctive tone, otherwise known as it’s “voice”.
Woodwind
Typically, harder woods are used to craft woodwind instruments, as they need to be durable and produce a brighter tone. The recorder, or blockflote as it was originally known, is the instrument with the most variety in woods – pearwood, boxwood, rosewood, and grenadilla are all used to build these instruments. The general rule of thumb is that the darker the wood, the harsher the tone, with grenadilla being the darkest.
It’s not uncommon to see composite wooden/resin models on the student instrument market – Hohner has a particularly nice Allegra line which is perfect for beginner students, as it uses a plastic mouthpiece alongside a maple wooden body. This lets the player achieve a desired tone whilst avoiding typical problems such as biting into the mouthpiece.
Intermediate to professional level clarinets are also commonly built using grenadilla wood due to the properties of the wood. Production is made significantly easier by the hard nature of grenadilla – though there are some workshops that produce clarinets with other woods, such as Honduran Rosewood, for a sweeter tone! Hard rubber can also be used in the high echelon end of instrument making, which gives an incredibly consistent tone through the range of the instrument as well as holding tuning incredibly well. A machine is used to insert tone holes in the body and to cut out the inside of the body (this is known as undercutting). Since this process always has a major influence on the timbre of the clarinet, the craftsman carefully makes fine adjustments by hand to produce a top-quality model.
I’m interested in building and crafting instruments. Where can I get even more information?
The world of luthiery and instrument building is incredibly interesting and there are always avenues to get into it as a hobby, or even as a more serious profession. Many local workshops are simply a search away, and there are countless resources available to get started on even minor repair work and crafting. A good place to start learning about wood in general would be woodwork classes, many of which are widely available at local colleges as an evening class.
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