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The tone woods that are used in the guitar construction affect your guitar cost above everything else. Unlike electric guitars, there are not many other significant factors involved. Pickups, vibrato tailpieces and special strings are not often used in acoustic guitars(unless you aspire to mod it yourself or want to buy a acoustic plugin guitar). It all boils down to the wood that is used in the guitar construction, because every acoustic is basically just a whole bunch of wood parts glued together, along with metal tuners, fret wire and a bone or ivoroid nut and saddle, in addition to additional cosmetics like pearl dots.

To type a blog post about tone woods could easily require many hours of work, but here’s a summary that i’ll go through. Let’s start with the materials used in construction (including premium timbers such as Sitka spruce, maple, mahogany and rosewood). Wood types like maple or Koa backs and sides will definitely require higher prices than relatively plain woods. Also, certain woods like Brazilian rosewood are now in short supply, , so an acoustic built using this particular wood will fetch a premium price (that is, if you’re lucky if it’s even available). The origin of the name ‘rosewood’ comes from the smell of the cut wood, which has a fragrance much like a rose.

Another important factor in the price-to-performance ratio is whether the instrument is built by a skilled craftsman using hand-picked timbers. As a rule of thumb,the best handmade guitars in the world will take much longer to produce than those which are mass-produced in an assembly-line, as a very gifted luthier will demand excellence in every aspect of the acoustic: from selecting every piece of wood used in the initial construction to even the pearl engravings that are used, as each will play an important part in the acoustic tonal structure.

On a side note: the quantity and quality of ornamentations on the acoustic also influence the pricing.
Pearl inlays, finish, brand cravings are all part of these. As a rule of thumb, if you have to ask what is the price of the acoustic guitar, you probably can’t afford it!

However, some manufacturers have been looking to less expensive timbers that still produce excellent sound quality. Bubinga, sapele, padauk, nato and wenge are just some examples. Even construction sites wooden walking beams that are made of Jelutong wood produce nice tones! So it really isn’t hard at all to find a good guitar.

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