Voyage-Air Guitar

Body Materials & Appointments

For acoustic guitars, Mahogany is a top choice for the back and sides of the guitar. It provides a bright, resonant and detailed tone to the overall sound of the guitar. Two types of Mahogany are used for Voyage-Air guitars: Select Mahogany, and Solid Mahogany.

Select Mahogany
Select Mahogany is a specially-bonded tone wood designed for strength and stability. Layers of fine Mahogany are joined with a unique high-temperature bonding agent that allows this wood to be "curved" under heat and pressure. This makes it ideal for the back and sides of a guitar: the rounded shapes are extremely stable as manufactured, and are resistant to changes in heat and humidity. Select Mahogany is also more durable, making it an ideal choice for a travel guitar. Select Mahogany is used for the Voyage-Air Transit Series and Songwriter Series guitars.

Solid Mahogany
The Solid Mahogany used for Voyage-Air guitars is from East Africa, from a specific species of the Mahogany family noted for its strength, stability and resonance when used as a guitar tone wood. When used for the back and sides of a guitar, this Mahogany flatters the middle and upper ranges of the sound. Individual notes, as well as strummed chords have a distinct harmonic clarity. Solid Mahogany is only used for the Voyage-Air Premier series guitars.

Rosewood
Native to the tropical regions of Brazil and India, Rosewood is the tone wood of choice for the back and sides of high-end, 'cost is no object' guitars. Noted for its depth of resonance, guitars built with Rosewood back and sides have a distinctive sound signature. Solid Rosewood affords an extra presence to bass notes and their related harmonics, giving an acoustic guitar a full, rich sound. Solid Rosewood is more sensitive to temperature and humidity extremes than Solid Mahogany. While great for sound, it is also not as durable as Mahogany. If you're going to use a guitar under rough conditions, Solid Rosewood may not be the best choice for the back and sides of a guitar. 

Fretboard
The Fretboard is the wood behind the frets of the guitar. All Voyage-Air guitars use Solid Rosewood for the Fretboard. The Fretboard of all Voyage-Air guitars feature easy-to-see position markers, so you can quickly determine your playing position as you form chords and notes up the neck of the instrument.

Bridge
The Bridge is the component where the strings attach into the body of the guitar. All Voyage-Air guitars use Solid Rosewood for the Bridge. When used for the bridge, Rosewood provides strength and beauty to the instrument.

Saddle
All Voyage-Air guitars feature a "compensated bridge." This preserves the intonation of each individual string, so all notes remain in tune as you play higher notes up the neck. The Voyage-Air Premier Series guitars feature a natural Bone saddle for the best possible tone and resonance.

Spruce has characteristics that make it ideal for the "top" of an acoustic guitar (the part with the sound hole and bridge). Spruce is a straight-grained wood, and is very strong for its weight. In fact, Spruce was the wood used in early 1900s aircraft because it was very strong, yet still very light. For a guitar, this means a thin sheet of Spruce can be strong, yet easily transmit the resonance of the strings. It's this top-wood resonance that contributes the most to the sound character of a guitar. Three types of Spruce are used for Voyage-Air guitars: Select Spruce, Solid Spruce, and Sitka Spruce. All three make for a great-sounding instrument, and all have various considerations in terms of price, durability and performance.

Select Spruce is an engineered, high-technology laminate that uses thin layers of Spruce, bonded under heat and pressure. Because of the lamination process, Select Spruce is more flexible than a solid, single layer of Spruce. It is also more temperature resistant, and it holds up better to the occasional 'dings' and 'bangs' that occur when traveling with a guitar. For a travel guitar, Select Spruce is strong, inexpensive, durable and sounds really good. Select Spruce is used in the Voyage-Air Transit series guitars.

Solid Spruce is just what its name implies: it's a thin sheet of solid-wood Spruce that is used for the top of the guitar. As one thin sheet of solid wood, it has great resonance, tone, projection and harmonics. Realize that the family of Spruce trees covers a great many species. The Solid Spruce used by Voyage-Air guitar comes from the northern latitudes, where the wet and cold climate is ideal for the straight-grained Spruce that makes guitars sound great. Solid Spruce is used in the Voyage-Air Songwriter-04 series guitars.

Sitka Spruce is a particular species of Spruce that grows in the coastal rainforests of Alaska and Canada. It is widely known as an excellent tone wood for the top of an acoustic guitar. Sitka Spruce is commonly used on guitars where ultimate tone is the prime consideration, and price is no object. As used on Voyage-Air guitars, Sitka Spruce is a solid wood, very thin, that results in great projection, resonance and harmonics. This Solid Sitka Spruce is used for the Voyage-Air Songwriter-06 guitars, and for all of the Premier Series guitars.