Guitar Forums

I’m shopping for a new acoustic mainly for fingerstyle and light solo arrangements. I keep hearing that mahogany and rosewood bodies sound very different, but it’s hard to tell in a shop when I can only play for a few minutes.
How would you describe the practical difference in tone and feel?

It’s also worth thinking about how you play, not just how the guitar sounds in isolation.
If you use a lot of alternating bass and melody lines, rosewood’s extended low end can give you more separation between parts. But if you prefer a dry, woody sound that records well and doesn’t overpower the melody, mahogany can sit in a mix beautifully.

Rosewood tends to have deeper bass and more shimmering highs, which can sound more “piano-like” for modern fingerstyle arrangements.

Mahogany usually sounds more focused and mid-forward to me, which works well for blues and roots fingerstyle.