The most important tonal consideration of an instrument is the tone-wood for the top. This is the main driver of the instrument and the starting point for giving an instrument its voice.

There is debate about much the back and sides affect tone. I believe the selection of your back wood in particular gives the tone established by the top and bracing an addition color. It can add or dampen brightness, lend the instrument dark moody notes or bring clarity.

The guts of the instrument both structurally and tonally. The brace pattern, shaping, dimension, weight and material choice play an enormous role in shaping the voice of an instrument. This is ultimately where the heart of lutherie exists.

An amazing man-made material with incredible strength, stiffness to weight, and consistency. This material is used mostly as hidden stabilizing and structural components. Incorporating Carbon fibers adds to the cost and time of an instrument build but ultimately creates very superior components and is worth every penny of added effort and cost.

Each type of glue has its best use. Hide and fish glue’s best use is stringed instruments. When cured these glues form a crystal like hardness and molecular structure and bond with wood differently than any other glue. Because of this the glue impedes the movement of string energy far less than other poly-based glues.

There are hundreds of types of wood finishes. Most of which can be used to create a great instrument finish. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. When you look at the whole picture though, from breathability, movement, application, protection, etc. Nitro still is the all-around best finish for stringed instruments in my opinion.

Metal is a material not associated too much with stringed instruments. Its an amazing and versatile material though that comes in all kind of varieties. Its great for certain structural applications, components and parts as well as some aesthetic features.

I like pickups that don’t alter the acoustic tone of my instruments too much. High- fidelity pickups for my archtops and flattops are important because most clients today are playing through some form of amplication.

Very important material choice. Ebony and rosewood are the more common approaches but I also like Brazilian ebony (Swartzia tomentosa), Rocklite, and a few other not so traditional choices for bridges.

An amazing and fun material used for aesthetic detail work. Endless and oranic looking possabilities with these tissue paper thin sheets of metal which can be colorized with various chemical fumes.

When it comes to coloring instruments this may be my favorite technique. Unlike spraying sunbursts this technique requires rubbing different pads of alcohol based stain into the wood itself and blending by hand. Once clear coats are applied and buffed it produced an amazing 3dimensional effect as it visually pulls the wood figure out more.

A great and versatile adhesive and casting medium. Epoxy comes in 100’s of different types and verities but it has proven to be a very useful material from structural, permanent to aesthetic applications in instrument making/h6>

A great metal that will hold up over time without tarnishing. This is a great alternative for fret material and tailpieces

Composite materials like rocklite offer us more environmentally and sustainable ways of building pieces of instruments that were traditionally made with woods which are now becoming scarce, overly expensive, and in some cases unethical to use. Great mechanical qualities and a really great material for fretboard, headplates, and even bridges.

Another seldom discussed material in instruments plastic offer a variety of applications and uses. From purfling and bindings, to substrate materials, many plastics will hold up well over time, have near perfect dimensional stability and glue very well.

Instruments are energy management systems. The string energy (kinetic energy) moves from the string, through the saddle and bridge, into the top and bracing structure which direct and manipulate the energy from there. All that we do in voicing comes down to how we are managing the movement and decay of kinetic energy.