apple back & sides

Picking Moose · #1 06-09-2013, 01:37 PM

Hi everyone.

I am about to commission my (hopefully) "definitive" acoustic and my trusted luther suggested applewood for back and sides.

He showed me a few examples and the wood looks quite beautiful, with dark red shadows and veneers.

According to him the tone of this wood is not as dark as mahogany and not as trebly as maple.
Not as "complex" as rosewood but not as expensive either.

Of course, he underlined the importance of how the guitar is constructed in relation to woods used and tone aimed for.

Any of you know much about this wood at all?

Alan Carruth · #2 06-09-2013, 03:27 PM

Apple is a great wood, but it's hard to find pieces big enough for two-piece backs. It's about as dense and stiff as hard maple. It often has some really nice, if muted, figure. It glues well and finishes well. It's very stable: they used to use it to make wooden clockworks because the wheels stay rounder than most woods. It's also good for that use because it resists splitting well. This can make it hard to work with hand tools, but it turns great. My violin making teacher once made a viola with apple back and sides, and it sounded really nice.

Picking Moose · #3 06-09-2013, 05:24 PM

Finding big enough pieces won't be a problem.
My luther has enough applewood to make at least 3 guitars, plus he is also one of the main tonewoods importers in Italy.. next to his work place, deep in the Tuscany Hills, he has a small stone barn where he stocks woods of all types..
When he was about to build my 12 strings 3 years ago I had the luxury of being able to choose between 5 different pieces of maple for back & sides, and that after he alredy discarded a few (not good enough, according to him).

Thank you for your reply anyway... sounds promising