Selection of the guitar top plate tonewood is one of the most important steps you can make in the wood selection process. The top is the most influential piece of wood that shapes the guitars volume and tone color attributes. So follow these tips and if you find some great tonewood stock, load up on it and use if for many years to come.

Guitar Making Materials Source: Guitar Building Tools & Materials Just as in our section on Guitar Building Tools, this section on Guitar Making Materials is focused upon the first time or beginning guitar builder. Luthiers who have been at this a while should also take a look at this list and we would certainly welcome [...]

Photo Courtesy of LMI Guitar Top Preparation Source: Guitar Wood Selection Preparation of the Soundboard: Tools and Supplies Needed: 24″ Metal Level Roll of Self-stick 220 Grit Garnet Sandpaper Guitar Plate Jointing Jig Titebond II or Titebond III Glue Portable Block Sander If you haven’t purchased your soundboard yet or are wondering what to buy [...]

Guitar Tonewood Grading – Tops Source: Guitar Wood Selection As you will find out there are a lot of terms connected with wood, especially tonewood, such as grading, tone, tap tone, color, grain pattern and run-out, just to name a few. Top tonewood and back tonewood are graded for different characteristics that are inherent in [...]

Different wood species definitely influence the tone and volume of a guitar, whether that be an acoustic guitar or a classical guitar. For the purposes of selection of a tonewood for a guitar top plate, we will focus our attention on softwoods or conifer species of trees in this article.