The woods listed below are not the only woods that can be used by the luthier/guitarmaker. Please keep in mind that some of the wood listed here are very hard to aquire. Some are nearly impossible to get and command a price that is very high.
EAST INDIAN ROSEWOOD - (aka Indian Rosewood, Palisander, Bombay Rosewood, Bombay Blackwood, Shisham, Sitsal, Malabar, Sissoo, Biti, Ervadi, and Kalaruk) - (Dalbergia latifolia)
Grows in southern India. Commonly interlocked grain with a uniform, moderately coarse texture. Good stability and very durable heartwood generally more consistent than most other rosewood species. Finishes nicely. The color ranges from red to light brown with golden streaks, but more often runs to various shades of purple-brown that eventually oxidizes to a rich brown color. East Indian rosewood is extremely resonant producing a deep warm projective bass response that is especially accentuated on large-bodied guitars.
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MAHOGANY - HONDURAN - (Swietenia macrophylla)
Honduran mahogany, of the species mahoganni, is so rare today that most mahogany is from Brazil of the same genus, Swietenia. This is a fine wood for guitars. Colors range from light pink to medium brown to reddish brown. The figure on well-quartered pieces is the characteristic stripe resulting from interlocked grain.
KOA - (Acacia koa)
Koa first found itself being used as a tone wood in the ukuleles of the Hawaiian islanders. Being exclusive to Hawaii, koa was introduced to the mainland in the ukuleles imported after WWII. When builders saw its beauty and heard is warm tone it wasn’t long before it was showing up in steel string guitars of major manufacturers and high-end custom builders. Some classical builders have found it favorable, too . With colors ranging from brown to gold with rich and varying grain, koa looks as exotic as the region its from. With an open pore structure like mahogany, it needs to be filled. It works well in all respects with the usual care taken for curly figure. Curl or flame has been exhibited in koa trees less than 20 years old and these trees grow fast. Instrument size and grade wood is rare because most of the old growth has been cut down. Luckily, Hawaiians are making an effort to plant koa along with other native trees to help assure they will be available well into the future.
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BLACK ACACIA (aka Australian Blackwood) - (Acacia melanoxylon)
Known as Australian Blackwood to many because of the tree’s bark, this not-too-distant cousin of the koa tree (koa is itself an acacia) offers many of the features of the popular Hawaiian wood. With many highly flamed sets available, the only difference between Black acacia and koa that you are likely to notice is that the color of the Black acacia is one shade lighter (more of a honey brown or gold brown) and the grain generally runs straighter. An excellent alternative to the rosewoods, it has a luminescence and depth similar to mahogany. The tap tone is roughly the same as koa, and some say it makes a better sounding guitar.
EASTERN BLACK WALNUT - (Juglans nigra)
Well known for its use in fine furniture with the more figured material being a highly prized wood for veneers, this wood has proven itself as a tone wood with large manufacturers and custom builders alike. With its rich brown color and occasional black streaks, walnut produces a striking instrument with a crisp, dry tone and a strong fundamental. Walnut works well in all respects, has a pleasant scent, and once it has been dried is very stable.
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CLARO BLACK WALNUT (CALIFORNIA BLACK WALNUT, HINDS BLACK WALNUT, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BLACK WALNUT) - (Juglans hindsii)
Claro walnut is American black walnut grown in the West. Claro grows faster and generally comes from larger trees than its Eastern cousin. This is an advantage as the better wood generally is added on after a tree reaches three feet in diameter. Larger trees also yield wood with thicker feathers. Claro is also more colorful than its Eastern cousin with more brilliant reds/yellows/greens/purples.
MESQUITE - (Prosopis glandulosa - from Texas) - (Prosopis juliflora - from Arizona)
Mesquite is purple with brown lines and, at times, chocolate with black lines and is often nicely figured. Some of the most desirable wood attributes are found in Mesquite. It is very dense, extremely hard and highly figured in a large percentage of its surface, and has a rich, unique color. The most unusual and outstanding characteristic of Mesquite, however, is its' natural stability. Wood in general is considered to be a dynamic medium to work with at best. Mesquite is extremely stable. It will only move about 2% in a plane from completely green to 6% moisture! It makes a strikingly beautiful acoustic guitar with excellent sound quality. The qualities of hardness, beauty and stability make Mesquite a winner from every point of view.
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BUBINGA - (aka African Rosewood) - (Didelotia aficana or Guibourtia Sp.)
Bubinga is a wood that has been used for years with success. It is a better tonewood than it's been given credit for - probably because low price is not usually commensurate with high quality. Harder and heavier than either Brazilian or Indian Rosewood, Bubinga is sometimes known as African Rosewood, although it's not a Dalbergia. The most common varities being used for instruments include Didelotia africana and Guibourtia demeusei, one of four Guibourtias known as Bubinga. It has a medium texture with interlocking grain, and when finished gives a mottled "bees wing" appearance. It's pinkish-mauve cast oxidizes to a nice brownish-red over time. Because of its interlocking grain, it can be like some of the more difficult mahogany to bend. Overall, Bubinga is one of the best values in a tonewood.
ZEBRAWOOD - (Horsus africana stripetica)
Zebrawood is a more boldly colored alternative to Indian Rosewood. With about the same density, workability and resonance as Indian Rosewood, it is evenly striped overall with small alternating bands of gold-tan and dark brown.
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ZIRICOTE - (Cordia dodecandra)
Ziricote is most striking in appearance, much like Brazilian Rosewood with "spider-webbing" but in shades of greys and olive greens with black rather than reds with black. It is heavier than most rosewoods but both its tonal and aesthetic qualities are great.
ENGELMANN SPRUCE - (Picea engelmannii)
Englemann spruce has many of the traits desirable in good German Spruce. In appearance it is like German spruce, but unlike German spruce, it seems to be more unifrom in consistency. Like German spruce, engelmann has a beautiful ivory sheen and occasionally shows some pink streaking.
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GERMAN SPRUCE - (Picea excelsa, P. abies)
German spruce is white in color and lustrous, possessing a beautiful ivory sheen. The better grades are in short supply and command an expensive price. They are quite even in grain spacing and coloration. German spruce has the potential to produce a very broad range of tonecolor - clear highs to full, rich basses.
 
MAPLE, BIRDSEYE, CURLY and QUILTED - (Acer pseudoplatanus)
Maple is prized for figured specimens, particularly "curly" or "flamed" wood exhibiting the light even curls of "fiddleback" figure, as well as "birdseye" and "quilted" or "blister" figure.
European maple is between rock maple and bigleaf in hardness, and is fine and even textured. Its appeal lies in its lustrous, creamy whiteness. Bigleaf maple ranges in color from ivory, to pink, to tan.
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SPANISH CEDAR - (aka: BRAZILIAN CEDAR, CEDRO ROUGE and HONDURAS CEDAR) (Cedrela spp.)
A fine to coarse texture. Used more in flamenco and classical guitars. Pinkish to reddish brown color, darker grain. With the recent increase in popularity to cigars & humidors, this wood has become more difficult to find.
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PACIFIC COAST REDWOOD - (Sequoia sempervirons)
California coast redwood is steadily gaining in popularity as a tonewood. Some of the best strength-to-weight numbers are found in redwood. What was recently considered a novelty wood is fast becoming a preferred tonewood. Redwood has a rich, reddish brown color, and is prone to variation in color across the grain, although the better grade tops will have little or no variation in color. Redwood is similar to cedar in density and like cedar is very stable dimensionally. It is highly resistant to all forms of decay as our 2000-year-old plus trees bear witness.
SITKA SPRUCE - (Picea sitchensis)
Preferred for its strength and tough elasticity, Sitka spruce can endure abuse to which the other soundboard materials are less immune, like dirt specks on the workbench and roughshod handling by the player. Sitka spruce is very stiff and has a MOE-to-density ratio of 1.57 x 106 - the highest of commercially used spruces. This higher ratio, in theory, is the most desirable for soundboards. Because of its strength and toughness it is well suited for steel string acoustic guitars. It has even been used successfully for classic guitars. The color of Sitka spruce ranges from white to pink to light brown. Some tops display a lot of color variation. "Bearclaw" sometimes available.
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