Types of Wood Used to Make Musical Instruments

Maple is a very common type of wood used to make musical instruments. Soft maple is not as hard as many other wood varieties, so it is easy to bend to make the sides of acoustic guitars and violins. Hard maple is often used for the necks of violins as well as guitars due to its weight and rigidity. Soft maple is commonly seen in drum shells due to its easy manipulation.

Spruce is the most popular wood used for acoustic guitar tops. It has a tonal qualities that lend itself to the sound of the acoustic guitar and is a hard wood with a soft core and must be covered with a hard finish for protection against damage. Spruce is often used for orchestral instruments as well due to its sound properties.

Mahogany is a dense, heavy wood often used in solid-body electric guitars because of its smooth high-end and relatively compressed low-mids and bass frequency reproduction. This wood is rarely seen used in other types of musical instruments due to its dark sound and overall weight. It is often considered too heavy for violins and too dark sounding for cellos, but can sometimes be seen used as tops on these instruments for aesthetic purposes.

Basswood is often seen in lower cost instruments due to its unappealing look with a clear finish. It is often seen on painted instruments and needs a hard finish to protect it from damage as it is easily dented due to its soft nature. Many bass guitars use this type of wood due to its consistent frequency response and many drum companies use basswood for their covered or painted shells.

Rosewood is the heaviest of woods used for musical instruments and is often used in the fingerboards of guitars, both acoustic and electric. It is very hard to bend and is rarely seen in the bodies of guitars. It has a dark tone and is capable of dampening the sound of the guitar through an amplifier.