The woods used to make acoustic instruments play a major role in how that instrument will sound. The two most typical combinations of tone woods are; Mahogony back and sides and a Sitka Spruce top, or East Indian Rosewood back and sides and a Sitka top. Each wood has unique characteristics that will effect sound. There are many other options for tone woods including; Cocobolo, Brazilian Rosewood, Walnut, Maple, Honduran Rosewood, Hawaiin Koa, Engleman Spruce, Adirondak Spruce, Red cedar, and many less common exotic woods. Does anyone prefer a particular combination? Or does anyone have any questions about pairing of the wood?

Matt, I hear a lot of less expensive guitars are made of a laminate. Is that just a pressed, layered wood? Kind of like a thin plywood? What are the major tonal characteristics and differences - why would someone want to stay away from laminate, aside from the fact that it tends to be "cheap". Is the tone thin and not warm?

Let me jump in here and Matt can correct me if I'm wrong. Yes, Chris, a laminate is like plywood, lamination being the use of two or more layers glued together. You can laminate plastic, glass, wood -- basically anything. Laminates are cheaper to make than using a single piece of wood, so cheaper guitars, violins -- any instrument that has a top -- will usually have a laminated top. Laminates are also typically stronger than a single piece of wood because the grains are crossed when the pieces are glued together. However, a single piece of wood is better because it vibrates as a whole and will "age" over time, creating a richer sounding instrument. On average, a solid-top guitar will usually cost more than $250, but bargains can be found.

Chris, yes laminate is essentially plywood. It is in most inexpensive guitars on some part of the guitar. What they do is use the laminate and use a picture of real wood to make the guitar look nice. There are a couple ways to tell if it is a laminated guitar; first look at the grain, if it is a $150 guitar and the grain looks perfect and tight, it is probably laminate. The most effective way is to see if you are able to get a look at the inside of the guitar. Laminate will look like plywood on the inside. If the grain is present on both sides of the wood it is a solid wood. As far as sound is concerned, laminates do sound much thinner and usually overly bright to my ear. However, they have come a long way. They can press the laminates at different pressure to create different densities of wood. This gives the plywood different tone characteristics, i.e. they would use a less dense laminate for the top then they wood for back and sides. The most important part of the guitar is really the top. This is where laminate does the worst job. There is a reason 95% of guitars have a spruce or cedar top. The back is the next most important part for sound. It is usually best to stay away from a laminated back as well. When it comes to the sides, they are the least important concerning sound. I think I have a very good ear for acoustic instruments and I don't hear substantial difference when it comes to sides. I think laminate sides are a good way for a company to keep costs down on entry level instruments.

The same goes for any hollow instrument. When I had my upright made, I told them to give me the finest grade top and back that they could and let them use laminate for the rest apart from an ebony fingerboard. The result was a pretty amazing sounding bass for a fraction of the cost. And I shouldn't have as many problems with shifting and sliding thanks to the ribs not being real wood.