I use a wide variety of timbers and materials in construction, all of which contribute to both the aesthetics and tone of an instrument. Each piece of wood is unique and must be worked and tuned individually. Best quality timbers are thickenessed, shaped and combined to achieve the best balance though out the construction.
Some details of soundboard construction can be found here
As regards soundwood materials and instrument tone it might be said that certain timbers have a tendency to the particular characteristics, and different combinations of each can be used to give you the balance you need.
Put simply the resonance of the top gives the major colour to the tone. Cedar gives a wonderful lush, warm tone. It plays in very quickly and will reach its’ full potential relatively soon. Spruce produces a firmer sound with a controlled bass and brilliant treble but takes longer to play in than cedar and so can sound green or tight when first strung up. However it matures more slowly and carries on getting better and better over the years growing with the playing. For steel string guitars I find Sitka spruce is generally a little warmer than European Spruce.
The choice of backs and sides will further colour tone and has a major effect on the projection of sound of sound from the instrument. Again, put simply, a relatively light timber, such as mahogany, will give a warmer tone with a relaxed projection, while a denser (more reflective) timber, such as Indian or Brazilian rosewood, will give a cleaner, punchier and crisper tone. Other timbers such as Walnut, Koa, Maple, Cherry and Sycamore etc. fall somewhere between the two.
As with tonewoods, all hardware and fittings are the finest quality. I am currently using Waverly machine heads as standardwith Rogers available to order.
All guitars come with a Hiscox Liteflite case as standard and I am currently using, installing and supplying the very excellent Schertler Bluestick and Duel systems.
