heavy wood is good for needles and darters and some poppers.
light wood like red western cedar is very good for swimming lures as it is light and boyant. ayc is nice and it has weight to it yet it floats nice and makes a good all round wood for types of plugs. I make very few red western cedar lures as it is low supply in me shop and I make special plugs for me out of it as i epexy the wood and wet sand and prime paint and epoxy. and that seems to alter the action to my likeing.
another wood that is a screamer for dannys and swimmers is balsa wood as it is very light and You can weight it to exacting action. and even though the wood is softer than red when sealed with epoxy and then painted and epoxy again to make it tuff and add overall even weight to the lure. rapala does it i think....
another thing on grain a loose grain gets put aside as they make the best swimmers. as the wood is lighter.
port oford or how ever ya spell it is a good wood to its between ayc and red western i guess as far as weight goes.
but a light pc of ayc will make a awsome swimmer.
I have a lure that i been fishing and its going on its 3rd year and it stays on top with no roll at all. made from red cedar. I made a set to find the best weighting.
and then tested it on many fish
for those that seen it its the yeller with silver

Raven I will use white cedar to, I care not about how hard it is to work with when it will smoke other plugs for the aplication it is used for.