Is maple a good guitar wood?

Maple is an excellent tonewood for acoustic and classical guitars and is the only commercially-viable tonewood to be used in guitar bodies (tops, backs and sides), necks and fretboards. It's a beautiful-sounding tonewood with a bright tone, and the figured pieces look stunning as well.

What wood is best for guitars?

Spruce. This evergreen, found in northern temperate regions of the globe, is literally top choice: the ideal wood for the soundboard, or top, of an acoustic guitar. Its look — light in color, even in grain — is appealing though somewhat plain; what sets it apart is its beautiful tonal properties.

Is maple wood good for instruments?

Western bigleaf maple (acer macrophyllum) is great for standing out among other instruments. With a powerful fundamental and even harmonics, it is clear and present, but without pronounced peaks and valleys in the harmonic content. It's a great top wood for strumming and is often used on big-bodied guitars.

Why are guitars made of maple?

Tone-wise: While Maple is still used on both acoustic and electric guitars, these days it is most often used for a neck or the top on an electric guitar. As a neck, maple produces brighter tones than mahogany with less warmth and sustain. Maple necks offer a strong plosive, fast attack, and very lively feel.

Is rosewood harder than maple?

Although, Rosewood is a very hard wood (harder than Maple) it's porous and "greasy" nature gives it a warmer tone in general.

Figured Maple Guitar Wood

What kind of maple does fender use?

Due to its stiffness and therefore stability, hard rock maple (Acer saccharum/Nigrum) has become the main wood for building bass and guitar necks, bolt on or neck through since Leo Fender introduced it in larger scale production in 1954 on the Telecaster.

What wood is best for musical instruments?

Three types are used for musical instruments: Ceylon Ebony or East Indian Ebony (natives of India and Sri Lanka) Indonesia's Makassar Ebony and Madagascar's Ebony. Our ancestors have long discovered that when it comes to musical instruments, mahogany is the best material. It is resonant, beautiful and durable.

What wood tone is maple?

What Color is Maple Wood? Whereas many trees are prized by woodworkers for their heartwood, it's usually the sapwood of maple that's used in fine wood furniture. It tends to be a white hue with pitch fleck and mineral streaks adding some reddish-brown tints to it, though the color will deepen some with age.

Is maple good for electric guitar?

Maple. Maple is another popular tonewood, used for the body, neck, and fingerboards of an electric guitar.

Is maple or rosewood fretboard better?

Compared to maple the difference is notable, as rosewood will soften the sound, even for guitars with maple necks. This is one of the reasons some guitar players prefer Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters with the option of a rosewood fretboard. The rosewood takes a bright guitar and mellows it out a bit.

What wood are Fender Strats made of?

Alder is the most common choice for Stratocasters, Jaguars and Jazzmasters as well as the Jazz Bass due to its warmer balanced tone. More specifically, Red Alder is used by Fender as it is fast growing and readily available.

Is mahogany better than maple for guitar?

Mahogany guitars sound warmer and fuller compared to maple guitars which sound brighter and clearer. Mahogany is a dark wood with a fairly flat EQ and slight mid-range hump, whereas maple is a lighter wood with more treble emphasis and a tighter low-end.

What is the lightest guitar wood?

Basswood is a lightweight tonewood that is relatively soft compared to other woods listed in this article, but it's abundant and therefore relatively cheap. Because of its soft and lightweight nature, it's never used as a laminate material, or on necks or fretboards.

Does guitar wood matter?

The short answer is yes, different wood species have distinguishable sound characteristics, influencing the tone of an electric guitar. Individual vibro-acoustic characteristics are mainly due to different densities of wood types. Moisture content also determines the tone colour changes.

Does the type of wood affect the sound of a guitar?

The answer is that it does. Generally, heavier woods like mahogany resonate differently than a medium-bodied wood like alder and a lighter wood like basswood. And don't forget feel. A big part of your tone comes down to how you play — how you fret chords and how you strum or pick.

What is the most resonant wood?

Honduras Rosewood, a very unique wood with unparalleled sound qualities grows in the heart of Central America. The beauty of its resonance can even be heard on a raw-cut piece of wood Honduras Rosewood, which is also known for its hardness and durability.

Is maple smoother than rosewood?

Maple with a satin/oil/raw finish feels more or less like bare wood, which is still quite smooth but has some texture to it. Maple gets finished a million different ways but they'll almost all fall in the range of smooth or very fine texture. Rosewood varies a bit but that's from the wood itself.

What wood is a telecaster made of?

Overall design. The archetypical Fender Telecaster is a solid-body electric guitar with a flat asymmetric single-cutaway body; the body is usually made from alder or ash.

Which wood is best for fretboard?

Do maple fretboards sound different than rosewood?

One of the commonly accepted “truths” about guitars is that maple and rosewood fingerboards produce distinctively different tones. Maple supposedly sounds punchy and provides note clarity, while rosewood is warm and spacious-sounding.

What guitars have maple fretboards?

Maple fretboards: a quick summary

If you're more familiar with the of historical guitars, maple fretboards are commonly used on the Fender Standard Telecaster and the Stratocaster models. Maple fretboards also come in a variety of species, and each can impact your sound and playstyle.

Which wood is harder maple or mahogany?

Mahogany Wood

Mahogany is a hardwood, it is harder and more durable than oak, but softer than maple.