Redwood

Redwood (Sequoia sempervirons) comes from the Pacific coast of California. It has a rich reddish-brown color that is prone to variation across the grain. It usually has straight grain but can sometimes be squiggly. Though not often seen in soundboards, redwood can exhibit an attractive curly or birdseye figure. It may exhibit strong medullary silking when perfectly quartered.

The wood is softer than the spruces but harder than Redcedar. Redwood is less sensitive to changes in humidity than either.

Redwood's sound is balanced and slightly woody-warm and rich with bright trebles and strong overtones. Compared to Redcedar, Redwood's bass response is rounder. Redwood isn't a commonly used tonewood, but it is becoming more popular in classical guitars and fingerstyle steel-string guitars. Redwood responds easily and with good volume to a light attack, and is well suited to open tunings. Like Redcedar, it can break up when overdriven making it a poor choice for heavy rhythm playing.