Solid Wood Top

Along with its body shape, a guitar’s top is the defining element of its sound, driving, through its vibration, the key aspects of volume, tone, sustain and projection. Spruce will, due in part to its famous stiffness-to-weight ratio, ring loud and clear. Denser tonewoods, like mahogany, will impart a certain warmth and stress the fundamental frequency of a note, perfect for recording within a group of instruments or sitting alongside a voice. A solid wood top—try redwood or red cedar for fingerpicking!—translates those vibrations with more immediacy and purity of tone, and reacts more directly with the intent of a player. If you are at an intermediate level or above, you will appreciate the instantly recognizable benefits of a solid wood top.