If you are about to purchase your first acoustic guitar you want it to sound great and at the same time be a beautiful instrument to look at. You will be choosing between several beautiful tone woods. The choices will be mostly between mahogany, spruce, maple, rosewood, and cedar. Each wood will have different colorings, wood grains , and sound qualities.
A guitar with a spruce top can have a mahogany or a rosewood back and sides. The beautiful mahogany back and sides will give the guitar a little bright edge to the sound. The rosewood will be a deeper or darker sounding tone wood. The spruce top may not have the beautiful figuring of other woods but when properly cut the tight grain of the wood will vibrate really well when the guitar is strummed giving a rich tone. Additionally for a solid spruce top guitar as the wood ages the tone and resonance of the guitar will improve. Spruce is an excellent choice for a guitar wood.
The best sound will come from a solid top instrument as opposed to a laminate top instrument. In a solid top instrument the wood will vibrate much more freely than a laminate wood instrument. with a laminate wood top if the guitar sounds good now it will always sound like it does now. With a solid top instrument to sound will get better and better over time the more it is played.
Cedar is also an excellent choice for a guitar top. It is a good alternative to spruce and is used in classical guitar. It gives a little more mellow and round tone, not quite as bright as spruce. The deeper red color of the wood also gives the guitar a unique look. A cedar top guitar will not have the edge that a spruce or maple top guitar will have.
If you take your time and try many guitars with different wood combinations you are sure to find a beautiful instrument that sounds great and will last a lifetime.
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