Wood Song Acoustic Guitars are designed by Paul Beard of Beard Guitars LLC & Wood Song. At Wood Song & Beard Guitars, we truly believe we offer the best acoustic guitar dollar for dollar in the $150-1000 price range. We can make this claim for two reasons: First, we have an absolute commitment to quality, using superior materials, craftsmanship, inspection and set-up. Secondly, when you buy from Beard Guitars or Wood Song, you buy directly from the manufacturer. This means you avoid the normal mark-up from the distributor and the music store. In practical terms, you can purchase a top-notch guitar for as little as one-third what you would pay at a music store.

A solid top (as opposed to ply) will provide the best in acoustic tone and volume. Engleman is a sought after species of close-grained spruce for its creamy ivory luster and its uniform grain lines. It is generally regarded as having superior visual properties as compared to Sitka spruce (tighter grain and more even color). As the top ages, an enhanced, more beautiful tone is produced while its complexion gently darkens. Unheard of in guitars in this price range, solid back and sides are commonly the choice for high quality professional guitars. Compared to ply sides, they vibrate more intensely and produce louder volume. Neck thickness is the same at the second fret through the ninth fret. Common to electric guitars, position changes are accomplished with ease, speed, and precision. Lacquer finishes are the choice for almost all custom-made acoustics. Providing a protective finish, it is thinner than the commonly used polyester thus allowing the body to vibrate more freely. As it ages it will harden and increase in responsiveness. It is much easier repair small scratches and dings than a polyurethane finish. As new lacquer is added into a ding, it will “melt” into the original finish and become undetectable. Most all vintage and collectible acoustic guitars have nitrocellulose lacquer finishes. However, for our necks, we have chosen to use a urethane finish for its strength to resist dents caused by capo use. Our urethane satin finish provides a silky smooth neck, which resists the natural wear and tear of playing. It provides protection to the neck when a capo is used. Our smooth satin finish invites your hand to glide into position unlike the gloss finish of some other instruments. Spruce bracing is necessary for proper support of the top. Unfortunately, this required bracing also inhibits the guitar top’s vibration. “Voiced bracing” is the art of carving the bracing in geometric patterns to reduce mass of the spruce. By properly reshaping the braces, strength may be maintained while the reduced mass of the bracing will promote the maximum vibration, increasing tone and volume. Harder than rosewood, ebony fingerboards resist wear. Its slick “feel” also promotes quicker string bends and slides. Ebony bridges are less prone to cracks between the string holes, an area of great tension. Bone, a very dense material has been preferred by luthiers for centuries. Unlike plastic or other synthetic materials, bone provides an extremely hard surface for durability and tone. Despite its hardness, it is easily shaped for our compensated bridges; the strings pass through the nut slots for precise tuning with minimum resistance.? Bolt-on necks, which are employed in many high-end acoustic instruments, are unheard of in the price range of Wood Song instruments. Experienced luthiers know that as an acoustic guitar ages, it is common for the string action to rise. The accumulation of string tension pulls and bows the neck. The area surrounding the bridge may lift slightly. While not compromising the overall integrity of the instrument, these forces detract from the playability by raising the string height or “action”. The common solution pf sanding down the saddle (and sometimes the bridge) restores the action, but lessons string tension causing reduced tone, and volume. The proper fix (known to expert luthiers) is to remove the neck and adjust the neck angle. On a glued dove-tail joint this is an extremely costly and difficult repair. Dove-tail joint removal requires steaming the joint and the fingerboard, softening the glue, re-cutting the neck angle, re-gluing, and touching up the finish. However, with a bolt-on construction, the neck may be easily removed in minutes. Our unique joint even includes a fingerboard attachment bolt, so no glue is used between the top and fingerboard. Its simplicity allows the luthier to re-shape the neck angle easily and reattach the neck. No finish touch up is necessary. Another positive feature of the bolt-on neck is easy reinstallation of a new neck if a serious headstock break occurs. This also makes upgrading to our graphite neck a relatively simple operation. A properly adjusted neck for lowest string action without buzz requires neck relief, or a very slight bow in the middle of the neck. The lighter the string and the less the tension, the greater the excursion or distance the string travels as it vibrates. If the relief or bow in the neck is inadequate, the string will hit the frets causing a “buzz”. A dual adjusting rod can be adjusted easily to create the desired relief for all string gauges and playing styles. Grovers are recognized as high quality tuners because of their smoothness and durability. Wood Song uses the new Grover Rotomatic model 102-18. These recently designed tuners use a higher gear ratio, 18-1, compared to the 12-1 ratio found on the original Rotomatics. This provides more precise tuning. If for any reason you are not fully satisfied with your purchase you may return the instrument within 7 days and receive a full refund (minus shipping).