Woods
There are two kinds of wood that I use to build my harps: The soundboard Tonewoods, and the structural Hardwoods.
The soundboard is made from a coniferous softwood like cedar or spruce, which gives an excellent tonal response. I only use luthier-grade tonewoods. The western red cedar, Sitka, and engelmann spruce are hand-selected from old-growth forests in British Columbia. Port Orford white cedar comes from coastal Oregon.
The neck and pillar are made from deciduous hardwoods and supply the structure to support the nearly 850 pounds of tension that the strings exert on the instrument. The wood of the neck and pillar and the veneer on the sound box have no bearing on the tone of the harp. My harps have a round-back soundbox made up of laminations of veneers including the outer veneer matching the wood of the neck & pillar.
Thus the choice of hardwood has no effect on the tone of my harps, and one particular hard wood doesn't necessarily 'sound better' than another. The 'heart' of the harps tone production is the soundboard, and 80% of the tone is coming from that. Clicking on the links below will take you to separate pages with more information and pictures:
Western Red Cedar
Engelmann Spruce
Hardwoods
Trim on Sound Box
Fisher Harps
