Understanding Tonewoods, Part 1: Softwoods for Acoustic Guitar Soundboards

Nully says:

“The first thing I learned in guitar building was that every guitar has three things: wood, craftsmanship, and design. And no matter how proud I am of our craftsmanship and design, it’s the wood that shapes so much of the sound.” 

For him, the character and potential of a guitar are defined early, long before voicing begins, because every piece of wood carries its own constraints and opportunities.

Rye describes it differently but complements Nully’s view. In his words, 

“From my perspective, tonewoods don't necessarily shape the soul or the voice of the guitar, but they do impart what I would describe as tonal color to the instrument. So from a more scientific perspective, the quality of sound is determined by how the maker uses the materials themselves…because every material has its own unique material properties, even within the same species of material. And when I speak of the quality of sound, I'm talking about things like volume, sustain, projection, balance.”

To Rye, wood is the palette, but the builder is the one who composes the voice.

At Pacific Rim Tonewoods, we see that tonewoods offer a unique sonic fingerprint, while guitar builders reveal or refine those qualities through design and craftsmanship. 

In this first part of our tonewood series, we focus on the softwoods used for soundboards—Sitka, Lutz, Engelmann, western red cedar, and redwood—how they behave, why builders choose them, and how they lay the foundation for everything the guitar will one day say.

Softwoods for Soundboards

Mapping a guitar soundboard out of softwood

1. Sitka Spruce

Sitka spruce is native to the Pacific Northwest and has been used in guitar building for generations. It’s highly stiff (along and across the grain) while remaining fairly lightweight. This yields a high sound velocity, meaning Sitka can produce a powerful, projecting tone with strong fundamental notes. A Sitka top gives a guitar a broad dynamic range. That means it can be strummed hard without distorting and still responds pretty well to fingerpicking. The tone is often described as balanced and clear, with a strong attack and modest overtones.

Nully says, 

“Sitka is absolutely the workhorse. It does everything well.” 

Sitka’s clarity and headroom make it an excellent all-purpose soundboard, especially for players with an energetic playing style. (One trade-off is that very light fingerstyle playing can sound a bit “thin” on Sitka, until the guitar has been well played in.)

Rye adds that Sitka’s reliability makes it particularly valuable in environments where consistency is essential: 

“It’s widely available and has consistent mechanical properties, which makes it a fantastic top.”

2. Lutz Spruce

Lutz spruce wood being treated to craft tonewood

Lutz spruce is a naturally occurring hybrid of Sitka spruce and White spruce, found in a small region of British Columbia. It has gained popularity recently (even being used on some Taylor guitars) because it combines some of the best traits of different spruces. 

Lutz spruce is very consistent in its properties due to its narrow growing region, and it falls between the densities of Sitka and Engelmann. Luthiers find that a good Lutz top offers volume and punch similar to Red spruce but with a bit lower density, which can work well for fingerstyle too. In practice, Lutz can have a higher volume ceiling (output) than Sitka, along with a tonal character that’s pleasantly balanced – not as overtone-heavy as Engelmann, but not as fundamental-heavy as Sitka. It’s a great all-rounder hybrid spruce and is increasingly seen in modern acoustic lines.

When talking about density, Rye says: 

“Lutz is a blend between Sitka, which is a little bit heavier and denser, and Engelman, which is a little bit lighter and more responsive. And so in very general terms, we can say that it takes sort of the best of both worlds.”

3. Engelmann Spruce

Sourced from high elevations in western North America, Engelmann spruce is generally lighter in color and in density than Sitka. It’s less stiff as well, which gives it a different tonal profile. Engelmann tops are known for a sweeter, more complex voice rich in overtones, especially at low volumes. Compared to Sitka, Fingerstyle players or those with a light attack often love Engelmann because it yields a full, warm tone without needing to be driven hard. However, it has a lower volume ceiling – when played very loudly, an Engelmann top can lose clarity or “compress” a bit sooner than a Sitka top. 

In short, Engelmann spruce works well in a soft, expressive context and offers a lush tone at modest volumes.

Rye notes, 

“Engelman spruce generally has a lower density than Sitka, and it's generally lighter and can be a more responsive tonewood. And so it’s these attributes that make it a little bit more well-suited to finger style music, more gentle strumming, or to a classical guitar top or a flamenco guitar top as well as a finger style Australian guitar.” 

4. Red Spruce

Famous as the pre-WWII Martin dreadnought top wood, Red spruce was once standard on high-end acoustics. It has the highest stiffness and density of the spruces, and consequently, a very high velocity of sound. It gives a guitar enormous headroom and projection – you can strum it extremely hard, and it just keeps getting louder. It also has a robust tone with strong fundamentals and rich overtones, often described as a complex, “glorious” high-volume sound. 

Nully explains why Red spruce thrives in high-energy styles, saying: 

“Red spruce has that power. It's a little heavier than Sitka, and for my bluegrass guys who really like to drive the pick through the string, Red spruce works great for that. It's got a nice color, a nice power. It's fast.”

It’s also rare due to past overharvesting, and that means it’s more expensive and found mostly on boutique or vintage-style guitars. New Red spruce guitars can sound a bit stiff initially, but they “open up” greatly with time and playing.

5. Western Red Cedar 

Cedar is a softwood (though not a spruce) long used for classical guitar soundboards and some steel-string tops. It’s a warm reddish-brown and is less dense and less stiff than most spruces. A cedar top has a quick, sensitive response even to a light touch, and it produces a warm, overtone-rich sound right away. Many cedar guitars have a “lush” or “round” tone that’s great for fingerpicking and classical styles. And it doesn’t hurt that it doesn’t need a long break-in time; it tends to sound open and mature even in a new instrument.

That said, cedar’s weaknesses are a lower headroom and slightly reduced clarity when played hard – it can “cap out” and sound muddled under some aggressive strumming. 

Overall, western red cedar is ideal for players seeking a warm, expressive voice at moderate volumes (it’s popular on small-body acoustics and fingerstyle models).

6. Redwood

Redwood is another conifer tonewood that shares some characteristics with cedar. Tonally, redwood is usually described as cedar-like but with a bit more headroom and stiffness. In fact, redwood is usually heavier and slightly harder than cedar, which can translate to stronger fundamental tones, especially in the bass, and a wider dynamic range. 

A good redwood top gives a sweet, dark warmth to the tone, responding quickly to light playing but also holding together under a more assertive attack better than cedar. Many luthiers use redwood on small and medium guitars to get that full-bodied tone that doesn’t need a heavy hand. Visually, redwood can be stunning, with rich sonic character and unique grain patterns and coloration. However, redwood trees are ancient and protected – only about 5% of old-growth redwood forests remain today.

Pacific Rim Tonewoods had the opportunity to buy blocks from a 900-1000 year old redwood tree that was salvaged from a creek as part of a salmon restoration project in Northern California. All these salvaged redwood blocks were fully utilized for acoustics. PRT continues to work with salvaged redwood when available, and has another 650+ sets at the pre-dry stage.

Pairing Tonewoods Across the Guitar Body

Choosing the right tonewoods is only half the equation; pairing them is where a guitar’s voice truly emerges. 

While we’ll dive deeper into back and side tonewoods in Part 2, it’s important to understand how soundboards interact with them.

A soundboard has its own stiffness, damping, and weight profile, and the back and sides act as the acoustic environment into which that top breathes. When matched well, these components blend into a cohesive, expressive voice.

• Sitka + Mahogany: This is one of the most enduring combinations in steel-string history. Sitka brings structural strength and balanced power, while mahogany contributes warmth, midrange clarity, and a quick, woody decay. 

According to Rye, this pairing works because “you get the warmth and woodiness from the back and sides, and the crisp dryness from the Sitka.” 

The result is a versatile, recording-friendly voice that responds predictably across genres.

• Cedar + Rosewood: This combination, by contrast, flips the tonal relationship. Here, cedar provides warmth and sensitivity at the top, while rosewood adds shimmering overtones and depth. 

Rye describes the pairing simply: “Cedar brings warmth, and rosewood adds that crispness and sparkle across the sound.”

The combination is ideal for expressive fingerstyle players, where softness of attack and harmonic richness matter more than sheer volume.

• Redwood + Maple: Redwood offers a darker, more responsive top-end character, while maple adds transparency, clarity, and fast decay. The pairing is ideal for players seeking articulation without excessive harmonic build-up.

• Lutz + Walnut: Lutz’s balanced stiffness and headroom pair beautifully with walnut’s focused lows and clear highs, producing a controlled, modern voice.

• European Spruce + Koa: European spruce provides nuanced detail, while koa contributes sweetness and sparkle as it matures. It’s an elegant combination for instruments that age gracefully.

Ultimately, pairing isn’t about formulas; it’s about reading the wood. 

As Nully puts it, a builder’s job is to “get the plates excitable,” adjusting each component so that top, back, and sides respond in harmony. 

And in Rye’s words, tonewoods add “color,” but the builder brings everything else into alignment, from volume, sustain, projection, to balance.

Steve Nall (Nully) from Collings Guitars during one of his visits to PRT

A Closing Note on Softwoods & Craft

Every great acoustic guitar begins with a tree…but its voice emerges only through the hands of a builder who understands the potential within the soundboard.

And that understanding comes with time. As Nully says:

“After ten guitars, you start to see more. After a hundred, you start to understand more.”

Rye adds that while tonewoods provide “tonal color,” the real magic comes from how the builder uses them, shaping projection, balance, and sustain from the unique properties of each set.

Across all these species, what matters most is not only the inherent potential of the wood but how a builder interprets it. Both Nully and Rye share that thought. 

Tops are shaped, thinned, and braced according to their individual properties, not their species label. The result is that Sitka can sound delicate, Engelmann can sound powerful, and Red spruce can behave with surprising subtlety. The soundboard is the instrument’s most expressive surface, and softwoods continue to define the voice of the acoustic guitar because they offer the ideal blend of elasticity, strength, and vibrational freedom.

In the end, every guitar carries three stories. 

One, the story of a tree shaped by years of sun, rain, and soil. 

Two, the story of a builder who reveals the music inside it. 

The final story, of course, is in the hands of the musician.

If you’re exploring soundboards, check out our softwood selection in the tonewood shop for a range of traditional tops to sonically graded Sitka and Lutz spruce. And for something truly unique, you’ll also find a few pleasant surprises in our Vault. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 - Hardwoods for Acoustic Guitar Backs & Sides, where we look at backs and sides and how they shape depth, projection, and overall character.

Explore the full series (coming soon!):

• Part 1 — Softwoods for Soundboards
  How Sitka, Lutz, Engelmann, cedar & redwood shape the guitar’s primary voice
  

• Part 2 — Hardwoods for Backs & Sides
  How rosewood, mahogany, maple, koa & others reflect, reinforce & color tone
  

• Part 3 — Fingerboards & Playability
  Ebony, rosewood & maple: where tone meets touch

• Part 4 — Science and Sustainability
  How tonewood is evolving in the world of guitar building