There are many different woods used in instrument construction. Medium density
hardwoods such as koa, mahogany, walnut, mango and primavera an be used for the
entire instrument body. Denser woods such as the rosewoods, macassar and
purpleheart should only be used for the back and sides with a tonewood selected for
the top. For tonewoods, spruce is the most common, but cedar and redwood are often
used with great results. For Soprano and Concert 'ukuleles, I prefer to go with one of
the medium density woods all the way around. For Tenor, I would go either way. For
Baritone, I would use a tonewood top with a dense back to bring out the lower range of
tuning. There's a wide range of species as you can see from the below pictures.
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