Which Top Wood is Less Likely to Crack?

[D41Fan]

Curious as to which of these woods are more stabile and less resistant to cracking or splitting. Mahogany, or Cedar, or Redwood?
I am thinking mahogany but I;m not sure.

Thanks,
Dan

[The Bard Rocks]

Neither - Port Orford Cedar (which is a Cypress).

[Paddy1951]

In my experience, mahogany seems to be the most stable and less vunerable to dehydration. To a point, of course.

Others may have different experiences and opinions.

[Tim McKnight]

Originally Posted by D41Fan

Curious as to which of these woods are more stabile and less resistant to cracking or splitting. Mahogany, or Cedar, or Redwood?
I am thinking mahogany but I;m not sure.

Thanks,
Dan

The wood that you keep hydrated between 35-55%.

[D41Fan]

Let me put it another way, is Sitka more prone to splitting or cracking than Mahogany or Cedar, or Redwood all things considered equal.

[OKCtodd71]

Unfortunately, any topwood with a thick poly finish is unlikely to crack. It's also unlikely to sound particularly good. Thin dry wood with a light finish vibrates freely and resonates well be cause it vibrates (along with many other design and build factors, we won't get into all of them). The ying and yang of it is that the factors that allow a top to move freely to produce sound so too make it susceptible to cracking. If you want a great sounding guitar, you have to keep it within a fairly strict balance of humidity and temperature or it will likely crack. If you travel by plane, great distances in short time spans which means wide ranges of climates in short hours, you will in all likelyhood experience cracks. Take a look at Pat Metheny's non laminate guitars!

Note the Manzer flat top and Pikasso:
https://www.vintageguitar.com/26318/pat-metheny-2/

[Shuksan]

Did the OP mention anything about any of the woods asked about being covered in poly anything?

[Erithon]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

The wood that you keep hydrated between 35-55%.

+1

I'll add: the wood that was properly seasoned.

In short, if you are truly concerned about cracks then you probably should be looking at a Carbon Fiber guitar. Otherwise just go with the tone you like best.

[Steadfastly]

For starters, Cedar and Redwood are similar. Redwood has more tannin in it so it is thought to be more rot resistant. That would have nothing to do though, with cracking. So mahogany would likely be the most stable and less likely to crack.

[colins]

Originally Posted by Erithon

+1

I'll add: the wood that was properly seasoned.

In short, if you are truly concerned about cracks then you probably should be looking at a Carbon Fiber guitar. Otherwise just go with the tone you like best.

Spot on. If you have it well made and take care of it you can make your choice with confidence.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

The wood that you keep hydrated between 35-55%.

Notice Tim says as low as 35%.
None of those hydration gizmos fo me.

[cmd612]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Notice Tim says as low as 35%.
None of those hydration gizmos fo me.

Living somewhere that doesn't normally get much drier than that sure makes it easier to take care of wooden musical instruments. I'm grateful to live in such a climate myself - having previously lived somewhere where indoor RH was regularly in the teens or single digits all winter.

[musicman1951]

I live in upstate NY, where the humidity never varies much between 20% and 99%. Even so, I've never had a top crack and that possibility never enters into my buying decisions.

But I'm strongly in favor of curiosity.

[Steve DeRosa]

Played a bunch of pre-1960 Martin 15's and 17's in my lifetime - all air-dried, properly-seasoned genuine mahogany...

Seen a few repaired seam separations on the pre-war models, nary a top crack...

There's an old Latin proverb, Fecimus propter possumus - we do because we can...

Maybe it's time to get a check on our collective GAS - and I'm as guilty as anyone - and start demanding long-term quality rather than de facto planned obsolescence...

[Erithon]

For what it's worth, all my instruments are made of solid wood but I nevertheless believe that CF can be a viable alternative for some players. Does that place me in the CF camp? (Is there even such a thing, and must it be negatively valenced?) I don't know.

My intention was to point out the OP's question wasn't the best way to approach the issue: it's not so much the species of wood as it is the proper preparation of the wood itself and the environment it was built in and lives in. Maybe that was unclear?