Tonewood Sets

Tonewood sets are fundamental to building guitars.  Oregon Wild Wood currently features over 2,500 individually pictured tonewood sets.  The tonewood sets you select will determine the cost, sound, weight, playability and appearance of your guitar.

Tonewoods are best described as woods with recognized and consistent acoustic qualities.  The tone of a guitar is affected by shape, the vibrations of the wood, and the amount of moisture.  Since sound is generated through vibration, the instrument's primary wood is selected for the particular characteristics of its vibration and OregonWildWood.com provides the largest selection of online tonewood sets in the world..

Click on the photos below to see over 2,500 tonewood sets currently available.

More about Tonewood Sets

There is a large variety of different tonewoods used in lutherie.  There are usually at least two different tonewoods used in the construction of a guitar: one (or more) varieties for the back and sides, and one for the soundboard or top. The uniformity of moisture content and material affects the tone or sound.

Guitars vary greatly in sound, look and playability. Different designs, quality of craftsmanship, electronics and choice of tonewood sets make them sound, look and feel different from one another. It's the luthiers' goal to combine the best of these elements to create the next masterpiece. Our task is seeking and offering the finest tonewood sets available to make that goal a reality.

Great Tonewood Sets = Great Guitars

Tonewood sets are the term generally used to designate wood with desirable and consistent resonant qualities, fundamental to good tonewood sets. The visual appeal and weight of tonewood sets are also important factors.

• The grain structure of tonewood sets effect the tone of your guitar
• The wood colors, patterns, figuring and chatoyance of tonewood sets effect the appearance of your guitar
• The sap viability of tonewood sets effects the tonal quality of your guitar
• The wood density of tonewood sets effect the tone and weight of your guitar
• The way the wood of the tonewood sets is cured will effect the tone, look, and structural stability of your guitar
• The amount it's played will effect the tone of your guitar (the more, the better)

We consider the finest tonewood sets to be those species with superior projection and sustain. Tonewood sets should not have weak or bright spots within the tonal range.  Many of the wood species from the US Pacific NW meet these criteria, and more.

Tonewood sets from some Pacific NW woods were well known by luthiers, but others, like Myrtlewood, Claro, Franquette & Bastogne Walnut, Port Orford Cedar, Redwood, Pistachio, Olive, Osage Orange and Douglas Fir are just now gaining notoriety.

Oregon Wild Wood offers the following tonewood sets:

• Tonewood sets for solid body guitars
• Tonewood sets for hollow body guitars
• Tonewood sets for acoustic guitar back & side sets
• Tonewood sets for bass guitar top sets
• Tonewood sets for acoustic guitar back and sides
• Tonewood sets for guitar soundboards
• Tonewood sets for beginners
• Tonewood sets for master luthiers

Make your next guitar one of a kind. Every variety of tonewood sets sold by OregonWildWood is visually unique and distinctive - even tonewood sets within the same species vary greatly in color, contrast and figuring. You'll find the largest online selection of tonewood sets available and each is unique. We strive to provide tonewood sets that is exotic, beautiful, unique and tonally superior. Each luthier set is individually pictured giving you the opportunity to choose the perfect one for your next guitar.

Healthy forests are vital to all of us, for many reasons. We must preserve these precious resources for future generations. To that end, Oregon Wild Wood strives to provide tonewood sets only from salvaged wood, trunks and stumps left behind from old timber harvests, trees that have died and/or must be removed, trees from commercial groves that become unproductive, and even wood salvaged from old buildings and structures. Your next guitar can be a source of pride in yet another way.

Click on the links above to select the perfect luthier sets for you. Contact us if you would like more information to help decide which luthier sets are right for you. At Oregon Wild Wood, our mission is to improve the sound (and beauty and playability) of your next guitar!