In the first installment of his new PG column, master guitar builder Paul Reed Smith explores the truth and mythologies about the wood our instruments are made of, and why the neck and body of your guitar is also its sonic soul.
Understanding that a landslide in a presidential election is 55 percent in one direction, I do not believe that what follows will get anywhere near 100-percent agreement. But, let’s go through the debate again. I don’t really use the term "tonewood." Because the internet uses the word, the word is used, but at PRS we just talk about wood, its beauty, and its ability to ring.
By definition, I guess tonewood is a wood used on musical instruments that helps give the instrument a “good tone.” Certain woods are classified as tonewoods and some are not. For me, the species is less relevant than the qualities of the wood. Those qualities are: length of time the wood rings when you hit it, the amount of water remaining in the wood after it is dried, the resins in the wood being crystallized/not gooey, the ability to have strength as necessary (i.e., a fretboard needs to be resistant to sweating, whereas back wood doesn’t), its ability to not warp over time, and its aesthetic appeal. A magic guitar can be made of many different types of wood, but those woods need to have certain qualities and need to be handled correctly throughout the manufacturing process. So to me, woods matter.
“Tonewood,” it follows, is not about making a “better-sounding” guitar. It is about making guitars that sound different and musical because of the woods chosen in the build.
When I started making guitars, I could trust the research of the guitar-making masters that came before me and use the woods they had decided on, or I could experiment with all the available woods. My decision was to trust what the masters had used because I didn’t have the time to experiment. Over the last 15 years, we have been able to experiment with woods that are not considered vintage tonewoods. I’ll give you an example. Vintage guitar fretboards are typically made of rosewood, ebony, or maple. There are several species within those wood types that work, but generally, the ones that were used were Brazilian rosewood, East Indian rosewood, African ebony, and sugar maple. The guitar I am currently playing has a ziricote fretboard and a chaltecoco neck. Chaltecoco is used for fence posts in Guatemala, and somehow that has given it a low-class reputation on the internet. To me, it makes fantastic electric guitar necks: It is strong, straight, and rings for a long time once dried. I used that guitar last night, and I’ll use it tonight. It’s got a beautiful sound.
“While the tonal differences in electric guitars start acoustically, they carry through when the guitar is plugged in.”
I also had a guitar with the exact same specs but a mahogany neck—same pickups, same parts—and both guitars sound different. The mahogany-neck guitar has a different kind of midrange, which I really like. I gave the instrument to Al Di Meola the other day, and he loved it. It was very musical in its tone. I’ll also add that while the tonal differences in electric guitars start acoustically, they carry through when the guitar is plugged in. Pickups are microphones, amplifying the acoustic tone of the guitar. In addition, pickups have a frequency response, a harmonic content, an attack and sustain characteristic, and an amplitude all their own.
To me, if wood doesn’t matter, then logically it follows that the material the bridge is made of doesn’t matter and the material the nut is made of doesn’t matter. What I believe, because of scores of experiences, is that if we make two identical guitars out of different woods, the guitars will sound different from each other. Then, if we exchange all the parts from guitar A and guitar B—the tuning pegs, nut, electronics, bridge—they would sound almost the same as they did, and still different from each other.
Let me tell a story. Once, I was at the Guitar Summit show in Frankfurt, and I took two Cremona violin makers who were at the show to my wood supplier to pick out curly maple back wood. They both picked about 35 backs out of what was in my friend’s booth. When they were done, the supplier looked at me with his jaw dropped, and said, “Oh my god.” I said, “What?” He said, “Look—all the backs they picked have the same number on them.” I said, “What does that mean?” He said, “The ones they picked all came from the same tree!” What they had been doing when they went through the pieces of wood was not to look at the curl, but to tap on them to find out how long they rang and whether they had a good note. They picked the backs that had the longest ring time. I learned something that day.
Bottom line, to throw away one of the main ingredients for making instruments because the internet says “it doesn’t make any difference” is, to me, like saying dead strings, rubber bridges, soft finishes, and wet woods make no difference. With all due respect, I don’t buy it.
At Breedlove, this resonant local resource—in stunning natural and color-added finishes—is the foundation for a wide range of world-class instruments, including new Custom Shop, Oregon, Exotic, Eco, and Pro models.
Tonewoods, by definition, play a critical role in shaping an acoustic instrument’s sound and character. That’s why myrtlewood—with its stunning aesthetics, sustainable sourcing, versatile tonal qualities, responsiveness, dynamic range, and visual appeal—has emerged in recent years as a top-tier choice for luthiers and musicians. This sometimes-overlooked treasure of the Pacific Northwest both enhances the visual appeal of a guitar and elevates its sonic capabilities.
Although the use of myrtlewood in guitar building was spearheaded by Breedlove Guitars in the ’90s, and it’s a local resource for the Bend, Oregon-based company, today appreciation for the evergreen as raw material for instruments is growing. And Breedlove is offering a series of new myrtlewood-based guitars to keep pace.
Breedlove Guitars: The Myrtlewood Story
Myrtlewood’s appeal lies in its tonal properties. It boasts a spectrum that can be described as a blend of rosewood, mahogany, and maple—offering a balanced palette, clear and pronounced highs, warm midrange, and tight, controlled bass response. This balance ensures that myrtlewood guitars can handle fingerpicking, strumming, or flatpicking with equal grace.
Responsive, Articulate, Dynamic
Myrtlewood’s unique, uniform cellular structure and density contribute to its exceptional responsiveness and articulation. It allows the guitar to produce a quick, precise attack with excellent note separation, making it an excellent choice for intricate fingerstyle playing and percussive techniques. As a result, musicians often praise myrtlewood for its ability to capture the subtle nuances of their playing style. Another advantage is its impressive dynamic range. Myrtlewood responds well to changes in playing intensity, from delicate fingerpicking to powerful strumming. This makes it an ideal choice for musicians who want to explore a wide range of expressive possibilities within their playing.
A Stunning Tonewood – Natural or with Creative Colorwork
Myrtlewood is visually captivating, with a wide range of organic colors and grain patterns. It can range from pale yellow and golden tan to deep purples, reds, and browns. Its figuring—which includes quilted, curly, and spalted patterns—makes each piece of myrtlewood unique. Breedlove guitars has been crafting guitars out of myrtlewood for almost 30 years. During this time, we’ve discovered myrtlewood not only looks fantastic in its natural form (as seen in the new Oregon Series Companion guitar below), but also comes alive with various color applications.
The New USA-Made Companion Acoustic Travel-Sized Guitars
Breedlove’s striking myrtlewood finishes have made plenty of waves in the acoustic guitar industry. The tradition continues with the release of our brand-new stormy night finish on the Oregon Series. This elegant and alluring finish has quickly become a favorite with everyone who has seen it first-hand. It draws its inspiration from a tempestuous night sky in Arizona, rocked by a lightning storm that only a desert can produce.
Breedlove Concert Stormy Night CE Myrtlewood Acoustic Guitar Demo
Along similarly colorful lines, the TB Vintage Edition Blues Orange Concertina M1 is a re-imagining of Breedlove owner Tom Bedell’s personal custom acoustic guitar. Part of the TB Vintage Edition lineup, it draws inspiration from the allure of exotic tonewoods, while being enriched by Tom’s life journey. Crafted using figured myrtlewood, of course, the TB Vintage Edition Blues Orange Concertina M1 is a fun example of what happens when figured myrtlewood is hit with vibrant colorwork! And, of course, the myrtlewood imparts all the tonal warmth, detail, and precise midrange articulation that one would expect.
Breedlove Blues Orange Concertina M1 Acoustic Guitar
Myrtlewood for Every Player
While Breedlove uses myrtlewood on Custom Shop and various USA-made acoustics, it is also incorporated in many of the more affordably priced models in the ECO Collection and Organic Pro Collection.
Breedlove Organic Pro Artista Pro Guitar Series with Designer Angela Christensen
Although myrtlewood already delivers surprising energy and extraordinary tonal balance, we paired it with European spruce on these models, for a more responsive, powerful projection. This professional-grade, all-solid model packs a tremendous amount of value into a more affordable acoustic guitar.
BREEDLOVE ECO COLLECTION: PURSUIT EXOTIC S SERIES
The Pursuit Exotic S Series—featuring TUSQ nuts and saddles and Breedlove’s Earth-conscious, sonically superior EcoTonewood technology—allows you to affordably experience the pure, nuanced sound and striking visual beauty of exotically alluring myrtlewood.
Tonewoods absolutely matter when it comes to acoustic guitars, right? But how much difference does the wood actually make? If you’ve tried out different guitars made from different woods by different vendors, then are you only hearing the woods? Or are you hearing the shape? The body size? The bracing? Or maybe other differences in the design and construction?
Could you ever tell the difference between guitars from the sound of their tonewoods alone? That question has puzzled us, too — for years. Sweetwater reached out to Breedlove Guitars to try and answer these questions by doing something that’s never been done before.
“What if we made the same guitar out of different woods? How much difference would we hear?”
The premise seemed simple enough: same guitar, same dimensions, same maker, same everything. The difference? Only the wood in the backs and sides would change from guitar to guitar. Simple — but no one has ever committed the time, expertise, and resources required to do this. Until now.
Can You Hear the Difference? Acoustic Guitar Tonewood Showcase
Let's Listen
Your initial reaction to these guitars may be like ours when we first flipped the latches and opened the cases — lots of “ooh-ing” and “ah-ing” over how beautiful the instruments are. They are truly works of art. We’ll start with a gallery of photos while treating you to sound samples for each of these exquisite guitars, played by Don Carr.
Note: We used premium microphones and preamps to record these and reveal all the nuances between them. Using high-quality speakers or headphones is the best way to listen to these.
Cocobolo
One of the densest tonewoods in the world. Listen on Sweetwater.com.
Koa
A strikingly beautiful wood with a unique tone. Listen on Sweetwater.com.
Rosewood
A perennial favorite, offering power and definition like no other. Listen on Sweetwater.com.
Walnut
Warm, full, and brilliant. Listen on Sweetwater.com.
Myrtlewood
A Breedlove favorite, Pacific Northwest native, and new to many players -- it may surprise you. Listen on Sweetwater.com.
How This Project Began
Thom Grant, Sweetwater’s acoustic guitar category manager, reached out to Angela Christensen at Breedlove Guitars and brought up the intriguing idea of a Tonewood Showcase series. In this project, we would build identical guitars from different tonewoods to compare the sounds of each. From the start, Angela was all in. As head wood buyer for Breedlove, she was intrigued by the properties and characters of different woods. As a company, Breedlove adores coloring outside the lines, and this group of Tonewood Showcase guitars certainly fits that model. One word that kept coming up was “unprecedented.” Nobody has ever done anything like this before. With buy-in from a premium builder like Breedlove and a dedicated luthier like Angela heading up this unique project, we began with a completely blank slate. Imagine having every option available to you: Where would you begin?
Where Do We Start?
This amazing opportunity presented us with a number of questions:
What guitar model should we use?
We decided to use the Breedlove Concert body style, the company’s most popular model.
What wood will we use for the top?
We decided that the tops would be spruce, and Angela agreed to personally select the highly figured Bearclaw Sitka spruce tops that would be used on all the guitars. And the tops are stunning! Each is hand-tuned with Breedlove’s proprietary Sound Optimization method. In this hand-voicing process, the company’s luthiers meticulously tap, listen, and shave away wood while targeting specific frequencies to make each instrument sound its best. Each instrument comes with a certificate that documents the optimization process for that specific guitar.
What tonewoods should we use for the backs and sides?
Sweetwater and Breedlove decided that these five woods — chosen for their unique looks and sounds — would be utilized for the backs and sides:
- Cocobolo
- Koa
- Rosewood
- Walnut
- Myrtlewood
If all the guitars are identical except for their backs and sides, then how will you tell them apart just by looking?
Each guitar has neck inlays, an inlaid rosette around the soundhole, and a veneer on the headstock that matches the back and side wood. The original Breedlove “B” logo appears on the headstock to visually differentiate these guitars. Note the beautiful wood binding around the body as well.
What about the necks?
All the necks are made from mahogany and have ebony fingerboards. The guitars’ neck inlays are quintessential Breedlove and match the body wood — koa inlays on the koa guitar, for example. The one exception is the neck on the myrtlewood guitar, which is maple — a pairing prized by Breedlove.
What bracing and hardware do we use?
All the guitars are identical in terms of bracing. The tuners and bridges conform to Breedlove’s high standards.
These look like limited-edition guitars. Are they?
These are NOT strictly limited-edition guitars because we can make more. We have ordered five of each with the option for building more. They are Sweetwater-exclusive instruments, however, and with the look and panache of an instrument valued at more than $10,000, each will surely be rare and highly prized but at a more reasonable cost. Sonically and visually, they compare well to guitars that cost twice as much.
Player's Perspective: Do Tonewoods Matter?
Don Carr had the unique privilege of playing these five guitars on multiple occasions. Here are his thoughts after spending time with all of them:
"Normally, when playing various guitars in a head-to-head comparison, there’s a long checklist to consider for each instrument: visual appeal, body size and shape, design and construction, action and setup, wood choices, quality vs. price, and ultimately, of course, how it sounds. This experience was not a normal comparison. In this one-of-a-kind context, the only difference I had to consider was how the guitars sounded, and as a player, how that sound felt to me and how I responded to each one.
I’ll start with the fact that all of the guitars sound incredible. This is a testament to Breedlove and Angela’s expertise and resources. Breedlove’s Concert guitar is a perfect platform because the feel is balanced, and the sonic spectrum is evenly represented. Plus, it’s just a joy to play. Breedlove has an amazing wood library, but beyond having the right woods, knowing how to choose the right pieces and pair them properly is an art. All that considered, with every other aspect of the construction of these guitars being as close to identical as possible, there are subtle differences.
As the person lucky enough to play and record all five guitars, I got a chance to spend a decent amount of time with each one. From the player’s side, the most noticeable differences are in the low end, largely because you feel the way it resonates against you. When picking a favorite, this is a factor depending on whether you like to feel the body resonate and be enveloped by the low end of the instrument. Spoiler alert: I found that the more I played them, the more difficult it was to pick a favorite. Sorry, not sorry! I honestly enjoyed every one of them, and they each have their own unique and useful sonic signature."
Conclusion
These extraordinary instruments are some of the finest, most unique acoustic guitars you may ever see, and they are only available at Sweetwater. Pick the one with the sound you like most and reach out to your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700. While we hope to make enough for everyone who wants one, there are no guarantees. We’re not sure how long they’ll be around, so don’t wait — order your favorite today!
Credits
Don Carr’s original compositions and performances are featured in this article, and Jason Peets engineered the sessions at Sweetwater Studios. We used a pair of Telefunken C12 large-diaphragm tube condenser microphones through a DW Fearn VT-2 Dual-Channel Microphone Preamp recorded directly recorded into Avid Pro Tools through Avid MTRX converters. Photography was done by Sweetwater’s own Matt Owens, and the tube lights utilized in the shoots were Chauvet Pro WELL STX 180 LED tube lights.