Cedar

A soft, open-grained conifer whose timber is a traditional soundboard material, particularly on classical and fingerstyle instruments.

It is less stiff than spruce for its weight, so a cedar top responds to a lighter touch and reaches its full voice sooner, which is why a new cedar classical guitar can sound played-in from the first week. The trade is headroom: pushed hard with a flatpick it tends to compress and go muddy earlier than spruce. Its colour is warmer and more rounded, with the attack slightly softer, and the wood dents easily because it is genuinely soft.

Example: a nylon-strung guitar with a cedar top is the usual recommendation for a player whose right hand is gentle and whose repertoire is mostly fingerstyle.

Cedar

See also