Tonewoods Instrument woods or tonewoods In a general guitar discussion the mentioning of wood types effecting the sound of an electric guitar made me quite interested, as I simply didn’t want to believe the claim. Surely, the pickups are the one factor that will effect its sound... well I was wrong.  I have owned two identically built guitars, made mainly of mahogany, with the only difference between them being the addition of a thin layer of maple top on the main body. The difference in sound was distinctively noticeable against the other guitar made fully of mahogany; the maple topped guitar sounded very bright. The quality and quantity of wood does also affect the tone, and to a degree, the sustain too, though the latter is also affected by other factors. Not all wood types are used in instrument building as some woods would not have the right characteristics such as: strength, pliability, aesthetics, longevity or density.  It is advisable to tell the salesman, your music style objectives or preferences in order to be guided to a specific range of woods. Search below for tonewoods, retailers and stockist. Find out what guitar your favourite player uses or used, by first getting the make then model and then visiting the maker’s site. There, you should find some info on the guitar’s composition.