Wood

[jcpharm]

Koa and Cocobolo grab my eyes without looking too crazy.

Ziricote and quilted maple are also fun to look at but i think it would wear on me over time.

[mikealpine]

Sinker Redwood top, Macassar Ebony back. Followed closely by Tunnel 14/15 Redwood as a top, and Malaysian Blackwood for the back. I just bought my first cedar-topped guitar, a Furch, so that may now become a favorite top.

[Tony Burns]

Not an easy answer to give -every great luthier has their preferences
which is the advice i give : call the luthier and ask about options and what wood they feel sounds the best to fufill your purpose .

[Nahil.R]

I think the OP is talking strictly about aesthetics here (not tone).

I am partial to EIR / Black Walnut / Flamed or Spalted Myrtle ... just a few off the top of my head.

Plenty of common woods can sometimes exhibit beautiful patterns and figure making it very difficult to give a definitive answer.

Nahil.

[Wade Hampton]

My two favorite tonewoods for backs and sides are koa and black walnut. I like them for their tonal balance and responsiveness, and the way instruments made from them seem alive when being played.

All of the koa and walnut guitars and mountain dulcimers I own have spruce tops on them. I’ve owned some all-mahogany guitars and have admired some all-koa Martin guitars from the 1920’s, but I can get more tone colors out of these instruments if they have spruce tops.

Quartersawn woods are what I prefer for my instruments, because that’s what I’ve had the best luck with musically. With many tonewoods, quartersawn woods are less visually flamboyant than slabcut woods, but when I play my guitars I’m not gazing adoringly at their backs.

Anyway, of the two woods I mentioned, only koa is drop-dead gorgeous as often as not. Black walnut is usually quite plain, but that doesn’t matter to me.

Many players like claro walnut instruments, and there’s no question but that it’s usually much fancier-looking than black walnut. But virtually all of the walnut guitars that I’ve played that have left me cold or have actively disliked have been made out of claro walnut.

Don’t get me wrong - I know there are terrific sounding claro walnut guitars because I’ve played a lot of them. But some of them are far better looking than sounding.

Since I’m mostly interested in the tone, I’ve found black walnut to be more tonally consistent.

So the tonewood that I favor for its looks as well as its tone is koa. Musically speaking, I’ve had the best luck with koa that has strong color contrasts in it, “the stripey stuff” as one tonewood dealer described it as I struggled to tell him what kind of koa I wanted.

The amount of flame present doesn’t seem to have any impact on the tone either way. Heavily figured koa will definitely COST you more, but some of the worst sounding koa guitars I’ve played have had the heaviest amount of flame.

So give me some nice “stripey” koa and a light build to let the wood do what it does best, and I’m a happy guy.

While there are dozens upon dozens of other visually arresting hardwoods suitable for musical instrument construction, I’ll just mention two more: Macassar ebony and Australian/Tasmanian blackwood.

Just like koa, and visually quite similar to it, Australian blackwood is in the acacia family. I’ve owned both a guitar and a mountain dulcimer made from it, and the dulcimer in particular had the most stunning figure of any instrument I’ve ever owned.

Never having owned a Macassar ebony instrument, all my experience with them has been the occasional music store encounter. But I like the tone of Macassar ebony, and the wood itself is one of the most beautiful tonewoods on the planet.

Short version: in terms of appearance as well as tonal beauty, koa with a lot of color contrast in it has to be my favorite.


Wade Hampton Miller

[warfrat73]

2 pages, and no pics, on a thread about aesthetics?

Ok... ok. How about this Claro Walnut?



Or this cocobolo?

[BillyMays]

Originally Posted by Nahil.R

I think the OP is talking strictly about aesthetics here (not tone).

Yep, beautiful looking wood.

[BillyMays]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

2 pages, and no pics, on a thread about aesthetics?

I was figuring that someone would post pictures, although I don't mind posting another pic of my guitar :P

[bufflehead]

Fine-grained, quarter-sawn Sitka spruce with massive amounts of silking, and maybe a bear claw or two. Natural. For looks, walnut B&S, but for tone, mahogany.

[jaymarsch]

Here is a down and dirty photo of the Kramer Bois de Rose Prairie Grass that I have on consignment at Guitar Gallery. Really good pictures on the website as well as sound clips. Bois de Rose is a true rosewood that is gorgeous.



Best,
Jayne

[bsman]

There are so many beautiful varieties - wonderful stuff like ziricote, cocobolo, IRW and BRW. However I tend to favor some of the less exotic stuff - things like myrtlewood, cherry, walnut, figured maple - that are both beautiful and tend to come from sustainable sources. I guess these days it makes me sad to think of rainforests succumbing to chainsaws...