what is tone wood?

[JJ model]

Hi Folks, i'm getting confused with the term Tonewood, is it only qualify if only used in traditional instruments?
What about wood that has no ring when tap or whack? The wood that I'm using nowaday are getting worst than cardboard sound. are there any classification that a certain wood is only suitable for instrument building?
Thanks for your input.

[Kim]

To me Jeffrey the term 'tonewood' describes any species of wood selected and resawn with the construction of musical instruments in mind.....When it comes to back and sides it seems that the 'tone' in 'tonewood' has more to do with colour than sound.....and that's about right cause by the time you've braced it all up to withstand the test of stress over time then there's little movement left to impact sound and that's as it should be because in a 'supporting role', its job is to allow the real star to shine.

Cheers

Kim

[P Bill]

Tonewood seems to be whatever a luthier can do with any given species. We're all familiar with examples by prominent luthiers using "inferior" timber.

That has been my approach, not because I think I'm a hotshot luthier, but because I've set aside top grade cabinet timber over the years. I've used up most of this timber building up my chops and the results have been better instruments than I could afford to buy. Besides I'm really tight-fisted. I look for at least a decent tone or ring before I'll commit the timber.

[matthew]

The way I experience it, the top wood provides the volume and underlying tone, and the back and sides act as tone filters. The fact that you have some wood with muddy taptone doesn't mean it won't sound good in an instrument, although for a soundboard I feel you nearly always want something that rings.

Tonewood must also be stable.There are a number of timbers that are just not stable enough for instruments are prone to splitting, warping and excessive shrinkage.

[Paul B]

Oh, that's easy.

"Tone-wood" costs ten times as much as "wood".