Often and not necessarily a standard, two 'harder' woods for lid and body, say Bloodwood/Black Cherry, or Ironwood/Sugar Maple for example, will produce a higher pitch, especially the front end and right at the break. Matt Van Cise is great a such combo! That said, I just finished two Bloodwood over Red Cedar boxes that are very high in the front with a bright crisp roll-over....with the Cedar they both drop hard at the back end and in this case, they worked...better than some.
At the same time, callmakers can and usually do a fair amount of tuning to bring in certain aspects, or accentuate a particular feature...a harder roll over, or a deeper bottom...to get more growl/rasp and such. Truthfully any combo can be "difficult" if the wood just doesn't want to cooperate, but for me I have often found Walnut and Cherry for lids challenging...not sure why and Sycamore and Mineral Poplar for bodies. And then there are those moments when for obvious reasons that can't really be explained, when both rails have it all, they start way up front, break hard run, slide and run themselves and fall into a sharp raspy deep bottom...but then that what my ears like to hear.
