	Santa Cruz Guitar Company brazilian rosewood · indian rosewood · koa wood mahogany · maple · sitka spruce · german spruce · cedar tonal contributions of the woods brazilian rosewood Highly sought after by generations of luthiers and players for its unmatched beauty. Brazilian helps to impart warmth and darkness to the tone of the guitar. Tonal differences between Brazilian and Indian Rosewoods are subtle and consideration should be based on aesthetics, rarity, future value, and collectibility. indian rosewood Like Brazilian, Indian Rosewood keeps the guitar at the warm dark end of the tonal spectrum. While not as visually striking as Brazilian, Indian Rosewood has an elegant appearance and should not be considered inferior to Brazilian on any account. koa wood 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. mahogany An exceptional tone wood when chosen for proper density and integrity. Similar to Koa in its ability to add snap and sparkle to the instrument, a definite advantage in a traditionally boomy dreadnought. Mahogany has been underappreciated because of its historical use in simpler, and therefore less expensive, guitars. maple European or German Maple is the favored wood for the construction of Jazz guitars because of its bright dry tone. Maple gives the guitar a cool precise tone with very distinct differences from Rosewood guitars. sitka spruce Sitka accentuates the warm round aspects of the guitar's tone. It is the most frequent choice in acoustic steel string guitars. german spruce This increasingly rare wood has a higher weight to strength ratio than Sitka and correspondingly complements the brightness and clarity of the guitars. cedar We use Cedar specifically for our fingerstyle instruments as it responds quickly and with good volume to a light attack. It is also very well suited to open or lowered tension tunings as they require the same qualities for good separation and definition. Cedar does lose tonal integrity when over driven, making it a poor choice for versatility but an excellent top wood for showcasing finger styles. top^
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Santa Cruz Guitar Company

brazilian rosewood · indian rosewood · koa wood
mahogany · maple · sitka spruce · german spruce · cedar

tonal contributions of the woods

brazilian rosewood

Highly sought after by generations of luthiers and players for its unmatched beauty. Brazilian helps to impart warmth and darkness to the tone of the guitar. Tonal differences between Brazilian and Indian Rosewoods are subtle and consideration should be based on aesthetics, rarity, future value, and collectibility.

indian rosewood

Like Brazilian, Indian Rosewood keeps the guitar at the warm dark end of the tonal spectrum. While not as visually striking as Brazilian, Indian Rosewood has an elegant appearance and should not be considered inferior to Brazilian on any account.

koa wood

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.

mahogany

An exceptional tone wood when chosen for proper density and integrity. Similar to Koa in its ability to add snap and sparkle to the instrument, a definite advantage in a traditionally boomy dreadnought. Mahogany has been underappreciated because of its historical use in simpler, and therefore less expensive, guitars.

maple

European or German Maple is the favored wood for the construction of Jazz guitars because of its bright dry tone. Maple gives the guitar a cool precise tone with very distinct differences from Rosewood guitars.

sitka spruce

Sitka accentuates the warm round aspects of the guitar's tone. It is the most frequent choice in acoustic steel string guitars.

german spruce

This increasingly rare wood has a higher weight to strength ratio than Sitka and correspondingly complements the brightness and clarity of the guitars.

cedar

We use Cedar specifically for our fingerstyle instruments as it responds quickly and with good volume to a light attack. It is also very well suited to open or lowered tension tunings as they require the same qualities for good separation and definition. Cedar does lose tonal integrity when over driven, making it a poor choice for versatility but an excellent top wood for showcasing finger styles.

top^

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