Well....The initial liveness of Cedar is appealing of course and its popular as soundboard material on othe instruments as well, such as Hammered Dulcimers. But understand that Cedar too improves with age and use.

It's true too that Cedar is not of the same strength as any of the spruces, but (and it's a big one, especially on HD's) it is about two times more stable and that's great. Changes in moisture content is a problem for any instrument owner and the fact that Cedar is twice as stable as the moisture changes is pretty neat. Cedar does NOT lose it's sound properties any faster than spruce contrary to the ongoing myth.

Pretty desirable attributes for a lot of people.

Spaw