Why Invest in a Solid Wood Guitar if You're a Beginner?

There are many thoughts running through a beginners mind when planning on buying a guitar. The price is one of the major factors in deciding on which guitar you'll purchase. Now, you ask yourself... Why invest in a solid wood guitar if I'm a beginner? I'll tell you why, it will give you more motivation to keep playing and become the guitarist that you always dreamt of being. There are many factors that go into choosing a wood guitar instead of a highly manufactured laminate bodied guitar. Lets start with the fact that the sound that is projected from a guitar made out of all solid woods can not be imitated by any other material. Now why would this be of importance to a beginning guitar player? Guitars were not made to be stuffed in a closet, you're going to play it, and you'll play it in front of others eventually. So... if you play it in front of others, don't you want you're guitar looking like a million bucks and sounding like angels are flying out of the sound hole?

You need to see your guitar as more than just a playing instrument; it is more like a tool for your improvement as a guitarist or a key that unlocks many experiences. I'm not gonna lie to you, my first guitar was made out of plywood, except for the neck that was solid Mahogany oddly enough. It was a handmade piece so whenever I took it to a Guitar Center it would obviously sound better than the cheap models that they carried. It played well for a little while but then it started sounding dull after I played a few solid wood classical guitars. My first Solid wood guitar was a handmade classical guitar by Isidro Selva from Managua, Nicaragua. It had solid Honduras Mahogany back and sides with a "Spruce" top. I place quotation marks because the Luthier informed me that it was a spruce known in Nicaragua to grow in the mountains of Matagalpa. I'm pretty sure the top was made out of some type of Pine. The point is, it was the most lovely sounding guitar I had ever played, just exactly the way I wanted it to be. The trebles rang like bells and had a sustain the length of echoes in a cave. The Spruce made it bright and the Mahogany made it powerful. Every teacher that I presented it to admired its light weight with powerful sound. The fretboard was made from an old aged Nogal Walnut that had matching binding strips. The Walnut collaborated with the Mahogany to make a sweet golden 3 pound guitar.

You should know what happened to my first guitar; of course... it's locked away in some closet. I've been through many guitars after my first wood guitar and I wish I still had it.

Purchasing a solid wood guitar is an investment (especially if it's handmade) of its own. The type of wood on the guitar increases in value just as the Luthier that made it makes it increase as well. The quality of a wood guitar will always surpass that of a plywood guitar. Even if factory made, it usually carries more detail and higher quality accessories and materials used. The wood opens up after playing it for a while and the tone will ripen to a crisp sounding professional level guitar. The static experience that you will have with a plywood guitar does not justify its low price. For an extra hundred dollars, you can own a tool that will improve your guitar playing skills and motivate you to play in front of others. At times, you can find solid wood guitars costing less than many over-marketed plywood guitars.

Beginning guitar players should think about their future as a musician. Do you want to learn a few chords and only play a couple of songs? Didn't think so... Invest in a well made acoustic wood guitar to become the guitarist that you always wanted to be. Spend on a good guitar now before you spend more on one later. Exotic woods keep raising in price and what was favorable in price now will not be in the near future. We provide high quality handmade wood guitars on our online Wood-n-Guitar store that go for very affordable prices. Try one out today and begin a dedicated path to becoming a guitar hero. 

Fretboards for Acoustic Guitars

Fretboards are like the handle and trigger of a gun. If you don't hold it right or the trigger is too soft, you won't be able to shoot accurately. This is a similar situation with an acoustic guitar, if the fretboard is not smooth or dense enough, the notes, playability, and tone will not come out the way that you would want them to. There are various types of solid woods that can be used for fretboards. The woods that we supply at Wood-n-Guitars for fretboards are Cocobolo Rosewood, Granadillo, and Macacauba A.K.A. Coyote. Other woods used for fretboards on acoustic guitars are Ebony, Indian Rosewood, Ziricote, Palo Escrito, Honduran Rosewood, Brazilian Rosewood, Walnut, Palo Escrito, Pau Ferro, and much more.

Choosing the right fretboard for your next guitar project or even if you just want to change the fretboard on your current playing guitar, is an important decision. You will have to decide on what tone you want it to deliver, the figure it should have (quartersawn or figured), how dense it is and its weight. There are types of woods, such as Granadillo (56 lbs/ft³), that are very dense but don't weigh as much as others such as the Rosewood family. Granadillo is known the be the "wood that sings" due to it's bright and high quality tone. The best type of Granadillo fretboards to use are straight quartersawn blanks, they make for easy transitions and they are the most dense of its species.

Cocobolo Rosewood fretboards are the most sought after blanks in the market right now, especially for bass guitars. Cocobolo is known for its bassy and deep tone, it's very dense and does have some weight on it (69 lbs/ft³ or 1,095 kg/m³). Cocobolo Rosewood fretboards are favored for their striking beauty and pearl white sapwood. When slab sawn, the blanks tend to display very aesthetic figures. There have been a few times that I've seen faces on the fretboards with other weird artwork. The wood gives out sharp black streaks across the blank and sometimes they might curl. It's recommended to purchase straight quartersawn Cocobolo Rosewood fretboards to get the best value out of the wood. Cocobolo Rosewood is a wood that tends to warp so when purchasing slab sawn fretboards, make sure that they have been properly seasoned. If your strings ever start buzzing, your neck might be warped due to the fretboard, believe me I've seen this happen many times.

Macacauba or, as we like to call it, "Coyote" is a fairly new wood to the fretboard world. Macacauba is very similar to Granadillo in density and weight (59 lbs/ft³) but is a little easier to work with. The smell characteristics of Macacauba are remarkable, when cutting Macacauba, the smell resembles that of cotton candy or something sweet in nature. The wood is very stable and delivers a nice tap tone. Macacauba fretboards are not easy to come by online , but here at Wood-n-Guitars, we have plenty to go around. The price of this wood in fretboards should be about the same as Granadillo. You can pay around $20usd for a first grade straight quartersawn fretboard. This wood is definitely enjoyable to work with.

Different species of fretboards have their own characteristics and reason for use. Investigating what kind of fretboard suites your needs best would be very wise before building or purchasing a wooden guitar. Electric and Acoustic guitars have distinct uses, which is why species of wood that are used on electric guitars might not work for acoustic guitars. To get the tone that you desire out of a wood guitar, you must pick out the woods that will deliver that tone. Not only in back and sides, but also the top, fretboard, and even the bridge blank. We have a variety of figured and quartersawn fretboards for you to choose from on our online store. Our inventory keeps renewing on a weekly basis to give you fresh products. When purchasing figured fretboards from us, you should have no worries. Our Luthier supplies go through an extensive drying process and only fully seasoned fretboards are sold. You can even ask to have a bridge blank match a fretboard of your choice in color and figure. Don't hesitate to contact us for custom fretboard orders as well.