Choosing the right tonewood is crucial for the sound of our guitars. That’s why we attach great importance to the quality and origin of the woods we use. This is reflected in the appearance and sound of every Duke guitar. Here you can find out everything about the woods we use for building a Duke guitar.
For both our acoustic and classical models, spruce is our main top wood. We rely on the high-quality spruce wood from the alpine highlands in the Swiss Graubünden. Spruce is still the most used tonewood for building guitar tops. There are various reasons for this. On the one hand, European spruce is especially known for its clear, pervading and balanced sound, which results in a bright and resonant tone. On the other hand, the density and stiffness of a spruce top provide the best conditions for the resonance and stability of a guitar. European spruce produces a clear, penetrating and balanced sound with good projection. This makes it a popular choice for the top of acoustic guitars, as it helps to create a bright and resonant tone.
As a second important top wood, we offer “Canadian cedar”. All Duke models with a “C” in the name have a cedar top. Cedar produces a warmer, darker and more complex sound than spruce wood. The tone quality is often described as “full-bodied”, “sweet” and “harmonious”. This makes cedar the choice of many guitarists who prefer a rich and nuanced sound. We ourselves are thrilled by the warm color and very sensitive response of the solid Canadian cedar top.
East Indian rosewood is one of the most popular tonewoods for backs and sides of acoustic guitars. At Duke Guitars, it's the most used wood for backs and sides, along with mahogany. East Indian rosewood has an outstanding resonance ability. It creates a warm, clear and powerful tone, with a very balanced sound ratio. Visually, this wood is very unique. The dark, strong grain makes rosewood so popular to this day as a tonewood.
We use mahogany, as one of two standard tonewoods, mainly for the back and sides of our acoustic guitars. Mahogany has a bright, reddish-brown color and is one of the most popular tonewoods ever. If nothing else this is due to the exciting acoustic properties. Guitars made of mahogany are especially popular for their brilliant and clear tone, the excellent highs and the fast response.
The South American Grenadillo, also known as Platymiscium cf. yucatanum, is one of the exotic tonewoods in your collection and is used as wood for the back and sides in your Artist series. Grenadillo is popular in the production of musical instruments such as xylophones and marimbas due to its weight and hardness. This gives guitars exceptional stability and a pleasant sound. In terms of sound, it is close to rosewood with a little more brilliance. Grenadillo brings clarity and sustain to our guitars.
For our Classic Basis models, we use bubinga as the wood for the back and sides. The unique wave-shaped grain gives these guitars a very unique look. Bubinga is considered an exotic among the tonewoods. This is probably due to the rare occurrences (mainly in tropical forests of Central Africa). The high density and stiffness makes bubinga a powerful and clear tonewood with a balanced tone balance of depth, midrange and treble.