The color of the maple species is slightly lighter and the grain is generally straight, fine, even texture. Although some maple pieces may be wavy and knotty. The color of walnut wood is slightly darker.
Full Answer
What is the difference between Walnut and Maple?
Concerning tonal attributes, it is known to provide a greater presence of warmth than Maple and is usually employed in the making of electric guitar bodies. Walnut is one of those wood types that look especially attractive under a simple oil coating, but a deep clear gloss finish would also fit its look.
Is Maple a good tonewood for guitar?
As a tonewood, maple provides excellent separation where every note sounding at the same time has clear definition. In other words, maple makes it possible to identify each individual note in a chord relatively clearly compared to some other varieties of wood that will provide a more blurred, overtone-heavy sound.
Is walnut or maple better for carving?
Although maple is harder than walnut, both are equally sought-after in terms of looks and utility. If you need lighter, more contemporary looks, maple is a good choice. Walnut is a more traditional choice, and additionally, it carves well, too.
What is the difference between hard maple and soft maple?
Similar to Ash, Maple includes 2 types: hard and soft. Hard Maple is tough for factory work, hence its popular application for slimmer-bodied guitars. Soft Maple offers an impressive bright attack compared to other wood types but is in fact still not as bright as the hard variety.
Is walnut a good tonewood?
Is Walnut a good guitar tonewood? Walnut is a dense and heavy tonewood. It offers a bright tone with tight low-end, and good sustain. Walnut is typically used as laminate tonewood in electric guitar/bass bodies or the sides/back of acoustic guitars, as well as in guitar necks and fretboards.
Is maple a good tonewood?
In addition to its stunning visual appeal, maple is also a highly regarded tonewood. The tone and sound maple instruments produce are unique because the tonewood has amazing strength and is quite dense. The unique curls or strips in the bigleaf maple wood make it visually appealing and desired by instrument builders.
What tone does maple have?
Maple is known for its density, resulting in a loud, bright and transparent tone as we mentioned earlier. It's not a particularly common fretboard wood for acoustic guitars, more often seen on electrics. Darker woods are generally considered more attractive, aesthetically at least, for acoustic guitar fretboards.
Is walnut a good tonewood for acoustic guitars?
Walnut yields excellent balance and comes with tonal characteristics that fall between rosewood and mahogany. Walnut can be seen on plenty of European guitars, and especially the combination Walnut and Cedar, that can be seen on many Lowdens, sounds amazing.
What does a walnut guitar sound like?
Like koa, it tends to have a bright top end, but with a more present midrange, somewhere between mahogany and rosewood. Walnut also starts off a little deeper on the low end, initially giving it a slightly woodier sound than koa. The low end will continue to fill out after being played in.
What wood has the best tone?
Spruce. This evergreen, found in northern temperate regions of the globe, is literally top choice: the ideal wood for the soundboard, or top, of an acoustic guitar. Its look — light in color, even in grain — is appealing though somewhat plain; what sets it apart is its beautiful tonal properties.
Is maple heavy guitar?
Maple is a heavy hardwood with a tight grain pattern. It is one of the brightest tonewoods and offers superb sustain and tight low-end. Maple (especially Hard Maple) is used as a laminate top for electric guitar/bass, tops and sides of acoustic guitar, and as necks and fretboards (often one piece).
Is maple good for acoustic guitar?
Maple is one of the traditional tonewoods for acoustic instruments. Right there with maple are rosewood, mahogany, spruce, ebony, and all the varieties of species of those trees.
Does a maple top affect tone?
On an acoustic, yes.
Is walnut better than mahogany?
Mahogany has a more 'classic' and antique look while walnut is more modern and understated. This means that some home aesthetics may suit one more than the other, but solid wood generally can work well in most settings, whether it's rustic or more contemporary in style.
Is walnut better than mahogany for guitar?
Walnut is a more neutral tonewood (like maple) and does not add as many overtones or as much “color” to the sound, so you get a more pure and bright sounding fundamental tone. Mahogany is (usually) a lighter, more porous tonewood and offers a more “airy” warm sound for the instrument.
What is the best wood for a guitar body?
MahoganyMahogany, mainly used in the acoustic world, for back and sides. It is the most commonly used hardwood because it's relatively economical, durable, attractive, easy to work with and resonant. Mahogany became popular in guitars because it is attractive and cheaper to get than rosewood.
Is maple a good wood for acoustic guitars?
Maple is an excellent tonewood for acoustic and classical guitars and is the only commercially-viable tonewood to be used in guitar bodies (tops, backs and sides), necks and fretboards. It's a beautiful-sounding tonewood with a bright tone, and the figured pieces look stunning as well.
Are maple guitars good?
Maple is a dense, hard tonewood that produces bright, snappy tones. In the context of a guitar fretboard, this means precise, articulate notes with good bite and a tight low end. Maple fingerboards are often paired with maple necks and brighter body tonewoods like alder.
What's better maple or rosewood fretboard?
One of the commonly accepted “truths” about guitars is that maple and rosewood fingerboards produce distinctively different tones. Maple supposedly sounds punchy and provides note clarity, while rosewood is warm and spacious-sounding.
Does maple top affect tone?
On an acoustic, yes.
Maple vs. Walnut
Maple is an incredibly strong wood that stains well and looks good. Its main attraction is the light, creamy color and smooth, tight, grain that offers a fine finish to furniture and flooring.
Maple: Background
You will find hard maple growing in the northern region of the United States and Canada. Other than its value for lumber, the sap of the maple tree is the main ingredient of maple syrup. And let’s not forget that the maple leaf is the main feature of the Canadian national flag.
Walnut: Background
You can find several varieties of walnut trees, only a few grow in the United States. The most prominent species and the one we discuss today is eastern black walnut, (Juglans nigra). We also call it American black or just American walnut.
Maple vs. Walnut: Appearance
Maple is best known for its light, creamy color with a fine, straight, and smooth grain. You may also get occasional waviness and a few knots which adds to the appeal of the wood if worked well. A unique variation of maple is spalted maple.
Maple vs. Walnut: Durability
Despite its hardness and fine grain pattern, maple has a low level of durability. Black walnut on the other hand has high durability in terms of resistance to moisture and rot. But it does not stand up to insect attacks.
Maple vs. Walnut: Workability
Maple and walnut share many common properties and they are both equally workable. They respond well to hand and machine tools. However, you may find some sections with irregular grain difficult to work with for both woods.
Maple vs. Walnut: Price
Maple is reasonably priced but hard maple tends to be a bit more expensive than the softer varieties. Specially figured maple like birdseye, curl, or spalted also cost more.
Walnut Wood
Walnut wood is considered one of the best woods, especially in Europe. They have very characteristic and appreciated tones and grain . In addition, it is very easy to work with and supports any type of finish very well.
Maple Wood
Maple or maple wood is one of the most versatile that exists, not only due to the number of uses of a wood of this quality, but also because maple syrup is obtained from it, which is very useful. widespread in the Anglo-Saxon area. Also maple ash to make soaps and is even part of the emblem of several American states.
Walnut vs Maple : Color
Walnut sapwood is ocher yellow in color in contrast to the light brown to dark brown heartwood. Its wood has a special shine and its grain is very pronounced, which makes it a highly valued wood for joinery work.
Walnut vs Maple : Hardness
Walnut is a hard wood and has very characteristic veins. Above all, the European walnut variety is more pronounced and forms patterns, the American walnut variety being the most homogeneous in its veins. It has a high cost, and in some cases depending on the veins it can reach very high prices.
Walnut vs Maple : Durability
The natural durability of walnut is quite good. If it is moderately resistant to fungi, it can, however, resist insect attacks. On the other hand, it is sensitive to termites.
Walnut Workability
It is also important to note that it is a wood that is easy to use and cut and with a strong resistance to actions such as screwing or joining, so it works easily and well with hand tools and machines .
Maple Workability
Hard maple wood dries slowly, with great shrinkage, which leaves it subject to yield variations. It is recommended to use the drill before nailing and screwing. With care, good results can be achieved with a mechanical process, with turning and gluing. Painted and polished, it offers an extraordinary finish.
SongMan
On OM guitar with Englewood top, How would maple differ versus Walnut? WHich wood will suit which style better? Volume,tone or any other info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
LittleBrother
Here are some references... I can only tell you I own many maple guitars and they are dry, airy, woody, punchy and make excellent blues or jazz guitars. The tone is not overly complex and there is no reverby sound like rosewood tends to give.
sdelsolray
Having owned only a few maple and walnut guitars, my experience is at best anecdotal.
Carle
To my ear walnut is a warmer or richer tone than Maple. Maple is a little bright or quick sounding. Walnut, tone wise, is between Rosewood and Maple to me. Different builders will get different tones from each wood so play as many different brands as possible.
guitarcapo
I think walnut is more midrangey like koa and mahogany in sound. Maple is brighter and snappier. Walnut is a little less responsive than mahogany or koa...although it can look quite pretty. I think it's main advantage is that it's inexpensive and pretty...but not what I'd call a first rate tonewood.
SurrealMcCoy
The few Walnut guitars that I've played seem to project very well. In fact, I played a Taylor W15 (jumbo) that was the "loudest" acoustic I'd ever played!
What is the wood used in an acoustic guitar?
The wood used to form the back and sides of an acoustic guitar sound chamber does a lot more than simply look good and create an enclosure. Through eliminating or amplifying different frequencies produced by the strings, these tonewoods can have a considerable effect on the overall tone generated by any given guitar.
What is the best wood for acoustic guitar strings?
If there is such a thing as an industry standard top tone wood, then Spruce would have to tick that box. It has become a perennial favourite and features on the comfortable majority of steel-string acoustics available today. The main reason for this is that it suits just about any and every style of playing. You’ll see a number of species of used in acoustic guitar construction, the most common being Sitka, Engelmann (also known as European) and Adirondack (also known as Eastern Red Spruce).
What is the difference between solid wood and luthier wood?
Solid wood is the opposite approach. You simply use the thicker , more expensive piece of wood.
Is mahogany cheaper than rosewood?
Made popular by Martin and Gibson in the pre-war era, mahogany was seen as a cheaper alternative to rosewood. Don’t be fooled into believing that means that is a lesser quality, however; it’s just different.
Is maple used on violins?
Although maple is frequently employed as the back and sides tone wood for violins, it’s not quite as common in acoustic guitar building. There are several reasons for this, but its appearance certainly isn’t one of them; maple tonewood can boast numerous different figuring patterns, all of which can look absolutely stunning! Many people have been charmed into spending their hard-earned cash on a guitar with maple back and sides almost purely thanks to its spellbinding aesthetics.
Do acoustic guitars have different woods?
The combinations of woods therefore need to be considered carefully when they are paired up, and it is for this reason that acoustic guitars frequently feature different woods on the back and sides than they do on the top. Let’s take a look at some of the most common choices for acoustic guitar backs & sides:
Is laminated wood better than solid wood?
While employ ing solid wood is more expensive, it arguably yields superior results. Laminated wood is often quicker to warp or mark due to its compound nature. Many argue that solid wood also offers a more resonant tone, again due to the uniform grain and thickness. Better vibration means better sustain and better tone!
What is the difference between soft maple and hard maple?
Similar to Ash, Maple includes 2 types: hard and soft. Hard Maple is tough for factory work, hence its popular application for slimmer-bodied guitars. Soft Maple offers an impressive bright attack compared to other wood types but is in fact still not as bright as the hard variety. 8. Rosewood.
What are the different types of tonewoods?
What are the Tonewood Types? There are NINE different types of woods that you will find on more than 95% of ALL guitars produced in the market today! These include Rosewood, Mahogany, Basswood, Alder, Koa, Swamp Ash, Walnut, Wenge, and Maple which all vary between mellowness and brightness.
What is a rosewood neck?
Rosewood necks are famously inherent with warm mids and fat lows and have been chosen as the material for guitar necks since the early days of Rock and Roll . Two of the most popular types of Rosewood include Indian and Brazilian, with the latter variety now in very low stock and extremely rare to be seen.
What wood did the Beatles use?
In fact, you may find this tone familiar because The Beatles used Gibsons guitars, which used Mahogany in its acoustic parts, in their early recordings. In terms of finish, Mahogany would look best under clear or transparent coating. 4. Swamp Ash. Ash is another wood type favored by Fender besides Alder.
What wood is used for fretboards?
Rosewood is not only known to be the most common wood used to make the fretboard, but it’s also famous for the rich brown and purple – aesthetic visual. Overall, Rosewood is the type of wood that lies at the darker end of the tone range. It is associated with rich warmth, impressive resonance, and the ability to provide good volume. Rosewood necks are famously inherent with warm mids and fat lows and have been chosen as the material for guitar necks since the early days of Rock and Roll.
What wood is used for guitar body?
Ash is another wood type favored by Fender besides Alder. Ash used for building guitar bodies is categorized into two types: Northern Ash or hard Ash, and southern Ash or swamp Ash, with the latter more commonly used. However, when referring to swamp/hard Ash, we are actually talking about the region where Ash trees grow instead of a particular type of wood. Growing in two different areas makes these two wood types different in nature, and thus, differing from each other in the guitar tone they produce.
What is the best wood for guitar fretboard?
It is a strong and dense wood that’s easier to apply finishes than Ash, which is the reason why it is the most commonly chosen for the guitar neck and fretboard construction. In terms of tone, Maple is known for good sustain and stability, as well as the ability to add brightness to the instrument.
Where is maple wood found?
Maple. Used for both bodies and necks, maple is a dense, hard, and heavy wood, sourced mostly in the Northeast and Northwest United States and Canada. Maple is often used as an ingredient in a multi-wood body, where it is generally partnered with a second, lighter wood.
What is the tonewood of Gibson?
Korina. Best known as the tonewood of Gibson’s radical Modernistic Series of the late 1950s—the flashy Flying V and Explorer—as well as more recent guitars that follow these templates, Korina is a warm, resonant, and balanced performer. It also yields great clarity, definition, and sustain.
What is the most popular laminated guitar body?
Maple/Mahogany. This is the most popular laminated body type of all time. Adding a solid maple top to a solid mahogany back yields a guitar body that exhibits many of the best tonal properties of both woods. The solid maple/mahogany body is characteristically rich, warm, and resonant.
What is the best wood for a Fender guitar?
Best known as the wood of classic ’50s Fender guitars, ash is most desirable in the form of swamp ash—wood taken from the lower portions of southern-grown wetland trees that have root systems growing below water level . Good swamp ash is both light and resonant, and generally carries a broad grain that looks great under a translucent finish.
Is mahogany a solid wood?
Alongside maple, mahogany is a classic ingredient in both slab and multi-wood (or laminated) bodies, and is a common neck wood, too. It’s also used in single-wood bodies. As for the classics, the Gibson Les Paul Jr., Les Paul Special, and SG were made of solid mahogany (with mahogany necks), and countless makers have used the wood in both solid and semi-solid designs over the years.
When did Fender use alder?
As with ash, it’s impossible to discuss alder without making reference to Fender, which first used alder prominently in the late ’50s and early ’60s. It’s a medium-weight wood, although quality cuts of alder used for guitar bodies will often weigh less than denser cuts of ash.
Is pau ferro wood hard?
Something of a cross between ebony and rosewood tone-wise, pau ferro is a fairly hard, dense, tight-grained wood. It offers excellent clarity and definition, but has more complex highs than maple, with chunky lows, muscular lower-mids, and an airy, open midrange.