Alder: (Alnus rubra)
Alder is light in weight with soft tight pores like Basswood. Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants (Alnus) belonging to the birch family (Family Betulaceae). The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas also along the Andes southwards to Argentina.

Alder is popular as a material for electric guitar bodies, used by many guitar makers such as Fender and Jackson. Alder provides a brighter tone than other woods (such as mahogany), and as alder is not a particularly dense wood it provides a resonant, well-rounded tone with excellent sustain. Alder is also occasionally used to make harps, although this is a rarity.



Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood, originally the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany.

A wide variety of electric guitars are also made from mahogany, like Gibson's Les Paul line and most of the PRS Guitars among others. It is noted, again, for its dark properties, as well as its weight (Gibson Les Pauls may weigh as much as 12 pounds), the combination of which produces a warm, rounded tone with huge sustain, for which the guitar is famous. Mahogany is also commonly used in acoustic guitars. The wood is most often used to make the back, sides, or neck of a guitar, but it is sometimes used to make the top (soundboard) as well. Guitars with mahogany soundboards tend to have a softer, darker tone than those made from spruce.



Swamp Ash
Swamp Ash has huge, open pores with hard and soft layers within each ring of the tree. Swamp Ash is a great sounding tone wood that takes a finish beautifully.



Other Woods