I tend to find that soft wood seems to have better sound and control. Cedar is another that works very well and you find it a little easyer to work with a knife. The Red or White sound the same to me. Tamarack is another wood that will make a nice sounding striker. As Pro has said there are a no# of different woods out that can be used. My personal opinion is I like the soft over hardwood. The hardwood tends to make a higher pitch call...BT