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When it comes to choosing the wood for the back and sides and for the top, you may feel a little lost because you do not know what is more convenient for you. Before I go into explaining the factors to be kept in mind when you make your choice, keep in mind the following. If I built a guitar with any set of back and sides and with any top and passed it to a concert player, he would give a fabulous concert no matter what the selection of woods I made was. He would only need an hour or so with the guitar  prior to getting on stage in order to make her sound her best.  It is very similar to choosing a wine or the brand of cigars. This goes to say that  you cannot go wrong. I also tell the anecdote of Torres (the creator of the modern classical guitar) when he proved that the real important part of a guitar is the top and not the back and sides. He built a spruce top with mache paper for back and sides. The guitar proved to be a terrific instrument.  Tropical woods are all very dense and have similar tone characteristics. The reason why some are more expensive than others is in relation with the rarity of the wood and the resistance that the wood offers when it is worked by the luthier. African Blackwood literally destroys some tools when it's worked, Padauk produces a very irritating dust when sanded and requires the use of a mask at all times,  Cocobolo requires specialized gluing techniques and so on.  Aesthetically, it is a very personal choice that inclines you to have a preference for darker VS lighter woods, or highly flamed cuts VS more uniform cuts.  In the description, under "IDEAL FOR", I mention the level of player. What I mean by this classification is what level of player will take full advantage of the qualities that a tonewood has to offer.    Back & Sides SOUND Weight  Audio/video Sample IDEAL FOR: African Blackwood The Deepest basses, well defined trebles, excellent tone wood, very responsive, with a terrific tap tone. I find the mid-bass ranges of this wood to be very human-like in quality. The most expensive of all the tropical woods. It is also the one guitar sound that is really different from all the rest. Still, the price for each set is not justified. Macassar Ebony, Maple and Walnut deliver practically the same results at a fraction of the price. Heavy All types of music, advanced-pro players Black limba Well defined basses, clear trebles, balanced sound throughout the scale and a very lively sound. Bright penetrating trebles and well defined basses. Top notch separation of voices. Rarely used by builders, I consider it a better choice than Koa especially because it is far cheaper although Black limba is not always available. The figure of most cuts is very beautiful and dramatic in character. Light Classical and  Flamenco, intermediate-pro  players, classical ensemble, guitar  & voice Bloodwood Very balanced sound, ideal for Baroque music, great volume and very nice quick response, great balance and separation of voices. he guitar makes for terrific looking instruments. Matches marvelously well with Alpine spruce and the looks are simply stunning. It makes for excellent Flamenco guitars as well. If you like the tone red, this is by far the best wood for the job. When finished, it is stunning ! Medium Classical & Baroque  music especially, intermediate-pro  players Bocote Deep sounding basses and an overall BIG sound. Very similar to African Blackwood. Terrific tap tone and a very wide palette of mid ranges that make it one of the best tonewoods. The looks are also quite spectacular with all shades of yellow, orange and dark brown... Construction wise, it is far more stable than Brazilian rosewood because unlike the Brazilian species, it never fissures. This wood is officially classified as either extinct, endangered, rare or vulnerable within its natural habitat in Costa Rica. It offers some beautiful background colors of dark brown, red with multicolored strips that vary from yellow to orange and green to dark brown. Medium heavy All types of music, novice-pro players. Performs perfectly in classical and Romantic music Bolivian rosewood Well Balanced sound, good volume and perfect balance of voices. Quick response. Possesses all the characteristics of the more luxurious Brazilian relative but has less presence in the sound making it an ideal choice for Bossa players that need warmth and introspection more than power in the sound. It finishes marvelously well and is very stable and resonant. Medium heavy All types of music, novice-pro players, Bossa Nova seems to be made for Bolivian rose Brazilian rosewood Deep basses, well defined trebles. Bright and ringing tone, Great sustain, tap tone and separation of voices. Considered by many to be the best wood for Back and sides. It has become one of the most requested instrument woods in the world and simply put, the worst built Brazilian rose guitar sounds great ! The only drawback of Brazilian rosewood is that it sometimes fissures and needs close scrutiny of humidity conditions. The good news is that the fissures have no negative impact on the sound. Medium heavy All types of music, advanced-pro players Bubinga Well balanced tone on all registers. Quick response. Very similar to Koa and Maple. The basses are very round and the mid ranges excel. The trebles shine very brightly. The looks of Bubinga guitars is simply spectacular. The grain resembles a waterfall or a river running and the patterns can be stunning! It is a Royalty tonewood from Africa that pleases the eye and ear. Medium light Classical, Flamenco and Bossa (with the cutaway),  advanced-pro players Cocobolo Almost identical to Brazilian rosewood, can be called Brazilian rosewood younger brother. Liquid tone and great color palette. It is strikingly beautiful and the finished instrument can get anybody stunned. The sound is mysterious, deep and clear at the same time. The grain is fabulous and it finishes to the point where you simply say WOW ! Outstanding ! Cocobolo is a hard and heavy wood with irregular grain with a medium fine texture which is a close relative of Brazilian rosewood. They are both Dalbergias. It finishes fantastically. Medium heavy . All types of music,  with the cutaway it is chosen by Bossa Nova and Jazz players A LOT, advanced-pro players Cypress Clear penetrating sound excellent response and tap tone. It has become the wood of choice for Flamenco construction because it s easy to come by. It is also true that it makes for great classical playing. Cypress allows for a crisp penetrating sound with little sustain but very penetrating trebles. Also great to accompany singing. The pale coloring of the grain makes the resulting instrument a striking one. I build some of the World most beautiful Flamenco guitars using Cypress.  Light Flamenco, novice & pro players, guitar & voice Curly  Purple heart Purple Heart is a fabulous tonewood with some of the best characteristics for a world class tonewood. It is very dense and projects marvelously. It is in the same league as African Blackwood, Lapacho and Brazilian rosewood without the drawbacks of Brazilian rosewood that is a high maintenance wood. Definitely one of my favorites. Hard to come by.  The curly variety is very scarce. Medium Heavy Classical, Bossa and Jazz players Advanced & Pros Gabon Ebony Gabon ebony is the standard for black in lumber. It has been found in Egyptian tombs and is used on the fingerboard of violins. A very dense wood with specific gravity of 1.2, it is usually only available in widths less than 6” and lengths less than 48”. This is partly do to where the trees grow in central west Africa. There are few roads and most of the billets have to be hand carried out of the jungle. It is the rarest of the ebony woods. Very dense tight grained wood. If you think Zorro, this is the wood for the job. It finishes fantastically and makes every marquetry decoration stand out marvelously. Heavy Classical music, Pros mainly Tigerwood.  Goncalo Alves Well balanced sound throughout the strings, quick response. It is a very "unknown wood" and to surprises me it offers some of the most valued characteristics of the more expensive tropical species. Clear crisp basses, great middle tones and rampant trebles. The finished instrument  looks like a wild cat. You can find yourself staring at the grain for hours at a time. It honors its name because it really looks like a wild cat. It is marvelous to look at and all the instruments I produced using Tigerwood are simply OUTSTANDING instruments ! The best cuts are found in Brazil although it grows in parts of Africa as well. Light . Classical and  Flamenco.  advanced-pro players Indian Rosewood Very stable, clear tone and good separation of voices. The most popular wood for classical guitar construction especially since Brazilian rosewood has gone up in price. I call it the Volkswagen of tropical woods. Low priced and very stable. Makes for very "predictable" guitars... It offers great playing and looks without breaking the bank.  Medium Classical, all levels of playing Laurel California Laurel is a wonderful species that is found throughout the Americas. The California variety is particularly beautiful. It possesses a tremendous tap ten and always produces top of the line guitars. It is relatively cheap when compared to woods that deliver similar sound at much higher costs like Blackwood or Brazilian rosewood.  Light Classical & Flamenco All levels of playing Lapacho Round basses and very clear trebles, competes with Brazilian rosewood when it comes to punch and definition of voices. Superb tap tone and a collectible since only a few Lapacho guitars have ever been built. The wood is incredibly hard but the luthier is filled with pride when he ears the sound of the finished instrument. I am quite certain that in time this wood will be part of the "tropical woods Royalty". It is simply Stunning. Medium Classical, all levels  of playing Koa Clear warm sounding basses and crystal clear trebles. Similar tone characteristics as Bubinga. Tone wise, it is particularly striking when built as a Double top. The wood  presents a gorgeous grain...I find it overpriced considering that Black Limba gives similar if not better results at a much lower price. Still, it is a wood in vogue and if it were not so unjustly expensive, it would definitely be among my favorites. Light . Classical, Flamenco, advanced-pro players Macassar ebony Deep clean basses and great sustain preferred to Brazilian rosewood by many guitarists and builders. It is sober and generates a full, round sound. It projects very well and the figuring can be quite striking. In the same league with Brazilian rose, African Blackwood and Maple... Some of the most striking instruments are made with this Indian species. If you love dark looking  instruments, this is definitely the wood for you. Heavy All types of music,  with the cutaway it is chosen by Bossa and Jazz players  A LOT, advanced-pro players Maple Well balanced sound on all 6 strings, in my opinion, one of the best tone woods to the point that I cannot believe that it is not more sought after. It really competes neck to neck with Brazilian rosewood and African Blackwood...and the wood looks simply terrific. The great advantage of the species is that it is an American species, which translates in very little care when it comes to humidity conditions etc. It is very light compared to the tropical species but delivers with the same presence. It is one of the most beautiful woods and makes beautiful guitars. Light . Classical and  Flamenco,  advanced-pro  players Oak Tasmanian Oak has proven to be a top of the line wood when it comes to concert instrument construction. It is not always available. The Tasmanian variety is extremely rare. It produces a full sound full of harmonics and it ranks with the best tonewoods woods on the planet. It looks gorgeous and works perfectly with Spruce, Cedar or redwood. Medium Classical & Flamenco music. Advanced and pro players.  Padauk Big sound with penetrating basses, fast response and clear trebles. Very similar to the rosewoods. The reddish tone makes it a great favorite among the lovers of this color. Every Padauk guitar I built to date has been a  head turner.... The sound is rich in overtones and it is among the best woods in its price range which is considerably small when it is compared to woods in the same league. It is one of the woods that shines the best when it is finished. Medium heavy Classical and Bossa (with the cutaway) especially,  advanced-pro  players Palo Escrito A top notch tone wood from Central America. It booms like teh most expensive woods but at a fraction of teh price. It is vey stable and has a sparkling sound. I highly recommend this wood. Medium light Spanish, Romantic, Flamenco Primavera wood Spring/Paradise wood This gorgeous wood is found in most of Latin America.  Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, North and central Honduras. It is amazingly beautiful and I find it ideal for light guitar construction. It si far better than Cypress when  comes to the Flamenco sound but the great side to this wood is that it performs fantastically well in Classical music as well making it my top choice for Flamenco/Classical Construction. In Paraguay the wood is commonly known as Paraiso (Paradise) because the Jesuits would use it to make sacred objects in the early 1600 Light Classical and Flamenco. Advanced and pro players Snakewood, Leopardwood, Lacewood The difficult thing about this amazing tonewood is to decide whether it looks more like a Snake or a Leopard's skin. The grain is simply amazing. Tridimensional spots on all its surface that reflect the light differently according to the angle at which it is illuminated. Spectacular ! The sound of Snakewood is in the same league as Brazilian rose, African Blackwood, Cocobolo. It produces extremely clear trebles and deep guttural basses. A top notch tonewood on all fronts.  Light/Medium Classical and Flamenco players, all levels Tasmanian Blackwood Superb species from Southern Australia. It ranks high up with African Blackwood only it is scarce and hard to come by. The looks and sound of Tasmanian Blackwood guitars are among the best that can be produced on a classical guitar. The grain varies quite a bit from one tree to the next but the sonorous properties are very consistent and always top of the line. Medium heavy All types of music, Pros and Advanced players Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle is perhaps the best discovery I made in 2010 when it comes to tonewoods. Not only is the grain spectacular but the sound the instrument puts out is tremendous with big bass lines, clear trebles and a separation of voices worthy of the highest ranking tonewoods on the planet. Medium heavy All types of music, Pros and Advanced players Walnut African Very bright sound on all registers, clear, open tone with excellent depth and strong trebles. A favorite among collectors because relatively few classical guitars are built with Walnut. The looks are very sober and the instrument is particularly suited for Baroque music. It is very beautiful to look at and the resulting instruments are always stunning. The bass on Walnut guitars is STUNNING !!  Medium heavy All types of music,  shines with Baroque, advanced-pro players Zebrawood Well defined basses and trebles, good volume and excellent distribution of voices, mostly, the guitar is stunning to look at. I'd order one with lattice bracing to enhance the sound and bring out the best tonal qualities of the wood. Zebrawood double tops make for terrific guitars at very reasonable prices. You will find yourself looking at the instrument for hours at a time such is the beauty of the grain and patterns created by these. Medium light All types of music,  all levels of playing Ziricote Big deep sound in the bass, clear trebles, similar to Macassar Ebony and Brazilian rosewood, stunning to look at and one of my favorite woods. The grain is simply dramatic and some of the most beautiful instruments are made with Ziricote. The grain is always wild and it seems that nature hired a world class artist to design its magnificent grain. It is simply stunning to look at and produces top of the line guitars. Heavy All types of music,  great for Bossa  (with the cutaway) advanced-pro players If you go to the Bellucci guitars Gallery, you can see fabulous guitars built with these outstanding woods