Journal
Tonewoods do less than the neck joint.
On a solid body, mass and stiffness dominate species.
A pickup reads string movement. The body changes how the string sheds energy — a real effect, and a small one next to pickup position, scale length and string gauge.
What a builder actually selects for is mass and stiffness. Species is a convenient label for both. Two pieces of the same species can differ more than two different species cut from the same log.
Where material matters most is the acoustic top, which is the soundboard, and the neck, which has to stay straight under tension. Those are engineering requirements before they are tonal ones.
