as far as a bolt on electric guitar, the wood does NOT matter, i have had this stance FOR YEARS and its a debate that never get anywhere. I even re-made a guitar i had in a different wood, everything was EXACTLY the same, except the wood, and lack of finish, and the guitar sounded EXACTLY the same.
there is most deffinitly a diff in sound between an hpl topped flat top dreadnaught and one with a solid sikta spruce top. but even then the bracing, scale length, string size, plectrum size, and player will determine more of the "tonal diversity" of the instrument.
