Cedar

The timber of several soft conifers, whose soundboards are the traditional choice for classical guitars and for many fingerstyle instruments.

It is less stiff for its weight than spruce, so a cedar top is driven easily and reaches its full response quickly, which is why a new cedar instrument can already sound played in. The trade is headroom: strummed hard with a pick it compresses and loses definition earlier than spruce. Its tone is warm and rounded with a slightly softer attack, and the wood itself is genuinely soft, so it marks easily.

Example: a nylon-strung guitar with a cedar top rewards a gentle right hand with a warm, immediate response that a spruce top only develops after years.

typical use: Acoustic soundboards, especially on classical and fingerstyle instruments.

Cedar

See also