Tonally, it provides good low frequencies, a compressed mid-range and smooth sounding highs. Mahogany is a highly dense, heavy wood with a fine, open grain and large pores.
It is now considered one of the world's premier tone woods. Cedar became popular in the mid-twentieth century after master luthier Jose Ramirez III of Madrid pioneered the use of red cedar as a substitute for the increasingly scarce European spruce.It is used in the construction of budget guitars and expensive guitars. Basswood doesn't excel in clean sounds though when coupled with distortion and overdriven amplifier produces a metal-lead sound much favoured by some rock guitarists. The tonal response compared with other softwoods such as ash and alder is less complex with a narrower dynamic range. It also creates a pronounced midrange fundamental frequency response and a reduced smoother high-end response. Tonally, basswood has a warm soft tone which attenuates both the high and extreme low frequencies. The installation of a tremolo system on such a softwood also means the body needs to be thicker to prevent cracking. It requires a hard finish, such as polyester, for protection and good engineering to allow the screws and screw-holes to hold the parts. Its very soft with light colors that range from almost white to medium tan. Basswood is a lightweight (lighter than Alder) close-grained wood with a consistent and tight grain pattern.Swamp Ash has good resonance across the whole frequency spectrum and therefore can sound quite complex. Its tonal qualities are a balance between brightness, warmth and dynamic range with clear bell-like highs, slightly scooped mids and strong lows. It has hard grain lines between its softer layers and a creamy light tan color with bold darker grain patterns. Many Fender guitars from the 1950s were built with Swamp Ash. Swamp Ash grows underwater which makes the wood lightweight and porous. (2) Swamp Ash (also known as Southern Soft Ash) comes from swamps in the Southern USA. This gives it a bright tone and long sustain. (1) Northern hard ash (also known as Baseball Bat Ash) is hard, heavy and dense. Ash offers two varieties for guitar construction and they differ in tone: Ash is typically used in mid-range priced guitars. Ash has an open grain pattern which requires a lot of lacquer to seal and this can have a marked affect on the length of the sustain.Its resonance provides a good dynamic range. Alder has a medium light tan color and provides a balanced tone across the frequency range with a slight upper mid-range producing a clean sound. Its soft and tight porous structure is similar to basswood but with a bolder hard grain pattern that adds to the stiffness making it more robust. Alder is a lightweight wood that provides a clean balanced tonal response and good resonance.Its tone is similar to mahogany but more bland sounding with a less complex response. Agathis is cheap and usually used in the construction of budget guitars. It is a plantation-wood used mainly for building cabinets. Agathis (also known as Commercial Grade Mahogany or Poor Man's Mahogany) is a tropical pine commonly found throughout south-east Asia.The woods listed below are used in the construction of both acoustic and electric guitars. whether the body is made from layered woods (ply) or single pieces.It determines the volume of acoustic guitars and affects the sustain of electric guitars. It provides the resonance that shapes the tonal qualities. The body is one of the most important factors in shaping the overall tone of a guitar.
The body of a guitar consists of a treble or upper bout (the half of the guitar closest to the neck), the bass or lower bout (the wider half of the guitar), and the waist bout (the narrow section between the treble and bass bouts).