The joke, of course, goes something like this. A man loses an eye and can’t afford a realistic glass replacement, so he gets a wooden eye and becomes self-conscious and defensive. One day while riding the bus, a woman with really large ears gets on. He asks her if she would like the open seat next to him. With excited appreciation, she responds, “Would I!” Thinking she’s making fun of him, the offended man counters with “Big Ears!”
The process of building an acoustic guitar is amazing. When choosing a type of wood for guitar, many factors come into play, but what the wood looks like is certainly the first indication of the quality. This is where the mysterious journey of creating a guitar begins, eventually ending with thin pieces of these select woods held together with glue, making for a beautiful sound. The guys that do this well have a wood eye and big ears! 
I’ve had a number of firsthand experiences with high quality acoustic guitars that are as unique as their owners. The mind blower is the various types of wood that are used and the wide variety of sounds that are produced. There are some generalizations that are commonly accepted about wood varieties and I would like to share some with you.
Let’s start with mahogany. It is the most commonly used hardwood for guitar backs and sides because it’s relatively economical, durable, attractive, easy to work with and resonant. Mahogany is also known for its fast response and good balance, and is the most stable wood used for backs and sides. Mahogany is also used for necks because it is stable, strong and lighter in weight. Most hardwoods fall somewhere between rosewood and mahogany both in density and predictability of tone.
Rosewood is one of the most dense and heavy woods. You will commonly see Indian rosewood in modern acoustics, but there are still rare pieces of Brazilian rosewood floating around. Brazilian rosewood guitars typically sell for higher prices and are known for a sweeter, fuller, and more even sound. Lately, Madagascar rosewood is turning up more and more, often being touted as the new Brazilian. It is generally considered that the darker the rosewood, the denser it is and the more it will emphasize bass. Cocobolo resembles Brazilian rosewood, but is somewhat heavier, harder to work with and less stable.
Walnut falls into the same category as mahogany, producing a mellow instrument with dark, eye-catching grain. Walnut is a naturally pleasant sounding wood whose tone markedly deepens with age. Like maple, it is also stable enough to use in guitar necks.
Maple seems to live in a world of its own. It makes for a great sounding guitar with good projection and generally has a bright, fast and balanced tone. Maple is favored in the construction of jazz guitars because of its bright, dry and precise tone. As I mentioned, it is also commonly used for guitar necks.
Koa is a gorgeous wood with well defined curly and flamed grain patterns as found in instrument quality maple. It falls in the middle of the tonal spectrum, giving the instrument a brightness of tone without sacrificing warmth. It is slightly less round in tone than the rosewoods.
Spruce tops are the standard for acoustic guitars. The primary reason for this is because spruce is number one on the list of strength-to-weight ratios for all the woods in the world. A wide grained top will tend to produce stronger bass response; a narrow grained top will have comparatively stronger treble and more subtle bass. That said, spruce has a number of varieties, each with its own tonal signature. Sitka spruce produces clear highs; Engelmann spruce is more brilliant in tone, but still produces a balanced instrument and can be built to produce more depth in the bass register; European spruce tends to produce more intense highs with less bass.
Several other woods are used for guitar tops. Western red cedar produces a more open sounding guitar from the start; there is some question about its longevity and durability for steel string use, but it produces a high quality classical guitar. Cedar and redwood are immediately usable, whereas spruce can take a year of regular playing to really open up. Redwood sounds much the same as cedar, although it is darker in color and not well suited for use on a steel string guitar. It does make an excellent top on a classical guitar and may be used on small-bodied steel strings with light gauge strings.
The next time you are in a guitar store, take some time to check out the woods. Look at the grains, the way the wood is cut, and try to imagine the journey from raw wood to refined musical instrument. The truly remarkable result and the joy that comes from these creations are worth the reflection. And as bizarre as this sounds, I hope you all get a wood eye and big ears!
Rick Wheeler
Rick Wheeler currently works as Larry Carlton’s guitar tech and front of house engineer. He is also an accomplished jazz guitarist, vocalist, and educator. You can contact Rick at rickwheeler@hughes.net
I recently presented a seminar for high school students interested in becoming guitar technicians and luthiers. As you can imagine, these hungry, young minds had all kinds of preconceived notions about guitar building and repair. A few even brought along instruments they had built, with a couple of those actually looking like guitars. In spite of their conspicuous lack of expertise and a few hints of trepidation, there was an overriding sense of passion for the guitar present in each of them. To give them hope and validate their passion, I passed on some of the following lesser-known stories about two guitar icons. In 1943, a saxophonist named Leo made a guitar out of oak and gave it away to country music star Roy Acuff. A few years before that, Lester Polfus attached a neck to a 4x4 piece of lumber and took it to a gig at a nightclub. He later cut two sides off of an acoustic guitar and attached them to the 4x4, “so it looked like a guitar.” Lester called it “the log.” In 1948, that same man from Waukesha, Wisconsin shattered his arm in a nearly-fatal car accident, but was somehow able to get the doctor to set his arm permanently in a position conducive to guitar playing. In 1950, the saxophonist named Leo demonstrated that if a person could stand on a guitar neck placed between two chairs, it would be strong and durable enough to withstand the tension placed on it by strings.
As crazy as it may sound, these two men ended up producing not only the most popular electric guitars of all time, but in the process, became musical icons who will live throughout history. The Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster – designed by that visionary saxophonist, Leo Fender – and the Gibson Les Paul – the brainchild of Lester Polfus – are beyond what would typically be considered “industry standards.” Every beginning guitarist pines for at least one of these axes and every seasoned pro has owned several examples in his or her lifetime. As evidence of just how symbolic they’ve become, an image of a Strat is carved into Jimi Hendrix’s tombstone and Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” Stratocaster sold for nearly a million dollars at a Christie’s auction in July of 2004.
I wonder if Leo Fender or Les Paul actually thought that the likes of Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Robben Ford, Zakk Wylde or Joe Perry would take their creations to such great places in music and world history. So much has been written about the guitars these men produced and endorsed, yet these two inventors were just men following their passion and interest whose ideas influenced generations of guitar makers and players.
They were also good friends. A commonly told story has it that one afternoon in the early 1950s, Leo Fender, an owner of a local radio repair shop, showed up at Les Paul’s house in Los Angeles to talk about his ideas for a solidbody guitar. Leo told Les that they should form a company together, but Les told him he’d been loyal to Gibson all his life, even though Les had tried to convince Gibson to make a solidbody for ten years. Gibson even called him “the guy with the broomstick with the pickups on it.” It was after Fender’s visit that Les Paul contacted Gibson again and in a 30-hour meeting convinced them that “the log” was the future. Just imagine the guitars that would have been made through Leo and Les’ collaboration!
Shortly after their meeting, Leo Fender released the first commercial solidbody and five years later followed with the legendary Stratocaster. The Precision Bass was also released during that time. Gibson answered in 1952 with its first Les Paul model, and history was made. Interestingly enough, a Gibson solidbody with no serial number was most likely made in 1952, as Gibson didn’t use serial numbers that year. Fender had a similar faux pas while the Telecaster name was being considered, as Fender produced guitars with no name on the headstock. The resulting “Nocasters” are now sought-after collector’s items.
For more than half a century, these two men have not only influenced the style and sound of modern music; they have created symbols of human evolution. Yes, they were a bit crazy, as all inventors are, but they were also deep thinkers with fun-loving attitudes and expert craftsmanship. So as you young or inexperienced guitar technicians get started, think about these two masters and their awkward beginnings and let your passion fuel your perseverance. Ultimately, I am glad that the Les Paul model is not a Lester Polfus and that Strats are not made of oak, although the idea of bringing home the latest oak Lester Polfus to show Ma and Pa does have some sort of strange appeal.
Rick Wheeler
Rick Wheeler currently works as Larry Carlton’s guitar tech and front of house engineer. He is also an accomplished jazz guitarist, vocalist, and educator. You can contact Rick at rickwheeler@hughes.net