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Thread: Tonewood for Ukulele
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15th August 2007, 05:12 PM #1
Tonewood for Ukulele
Hi All,
I have been lurking here for a while, as I have been fascinated by the thought of doing an acoustic build for a long time.
In order to get a feel, with minimal outlay, and to convince myself that my abilities are up to shelling out $$$ for tonewood for a guitar, I have decided to build a good copy of my daughters cheap uke. Due to the small size, I have most of the timber to hand, so if I st-ff it up, there is no real waste.
Available I have some left over Indian Rosewood, as well as Australian Cedar, which I can resaw into suitable thicknesses. Rosewood will do soundboard and/or back, (resawn, bookmatched, thicknessed by hand). Sides too, but the length of the timber is marginal for sides. Cedar for sides is no problem.
Questions to the guru's are:
Would you use RW for the whole soundbox, slightly reducing dimensions to accomodate length of sides? Alternatively use Cedar for back and sides, RW for soundboard, or RW for back, with cedar sides and s/b?
Suggested thickness for top, back and sides? I was looking at ~< 2mm?
For neck I have some nice stable New Zealand Beech, or more Cedar, and then Imbuia for fretboard, and peghead veneer.
I am looking forward to playing with this, mainly to see if I have the skills and perseverance, before embarking on any more ambitious projects. Before doing that, I will lash out and get one of the recommended books, but for now would just be doodling.
Any advice will be valued and appreciated,
RegardsAlastair
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15th August 2007, 05:44 PM #2
Im not a ukelele expert..in fact I hate the things. My sister has just started playing the ukelele and both myself and her daughter think shes lost her marbles.
Anyway my thoughts on your tonewood choices:
Back and sides: Rosewood the best choice. easy to bend.
The cedar probably better than the Rosewood. Rosewood will give a dead sound compared to cedar. Is it close to quarter sawn?
The neck: Cedar
Top thickness: depends on the wood, bracing and the sound youre after. My classical guitar tops are Englemann or Sitka spruce and I work them to 0.085 to 0.090", final thickness established by listening to tap tones.
Side Thickness: I take my RW sides to just a tad over 2mm. Backs generally get worked to a similar thickness.
Imbuia: no experience with this wood. Fretboard wood has to be durable and dimensionally stable. I generally use ebony on my classicals and steel strings.
Books: Definitely get your hands on a book or check out the web. Ukeleles seem to be all the rage at present so theres no shortage of information building the damn things.
Geeesh..the world IS going mad!
Cheers MartinWhatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)
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15th August 2007, 06:18 PM #3
If you haven't already, pore through Kathy Matsushita's Uke builds here.
From what I've seen, not too many people pay attention to the tonewoods in uke's, which explains why there are a lot of shockers, but when you hear a good one with good strings, like one of Doug Eaton's it stands out in a crowd!
This one in Blackwood and Engleman Spruce (The Uke, not Doug) Sorry he's covering it up!
Cheers,
P
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15th August 2007, 06:26 PM #4
Thanks Martin,
Just the sort of info I was looking for, in spite of the totally unreasonable bias against a perfectly rational musical instrument. (I am as near to being non-musical as it is possible to get, so I can get away with that!!)
Thanks for the detail, and will take on board. I doubt if reducing the size of the soundbox by a few mm will be critical on this project, so will stick with the rosewood there.
A thought after posting was that I think I could resaw a soundboard out of NZ Beech I have on hand. Alternatively, I think I have some WR Cedar as well.
Imbuia is a dark, dense tropical rainforest timber, which was much in vogue for fine furniture 50 years ago. Now very scarce, and seldom seen.
Having read links below, might see if any I have (bought some 30 years ago), could lend itself to use as tonewood in the future.
http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/imbuia.htm
http://www.rctonewoods.rcefaluguitars.com/imbuia.htm
http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars...px?type=Imbuia
Thanks, and if I start, will keep the forum in the loop, so that the necessary abuse can be aimed at me!!
regardsAlastair
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15th August 2007, 06:37 PM #5
Thanks for the info, Midge.
I have seen Cathy's site when I first started thinking about this.
Dougs site also suggests that the Cedar might be the one to go for as top.
regardsAlastair
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15th August 2007, 06:46 PM #6
Koa is a wood traditionally used for ukes. I'm told Tasmanian Blackwood is closely related to same or at least has similar properties.
I met a guy in NZ a few years back who had some NZ beech he was going to turn into a guitar top. I never found out how it went. WR cedar is used on classicals and is quite acceptable as a tonewood.Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)
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15th August 2007, 07:57 PM #7
If I had rosewood and cedar as choices, I would use cedar for the soundboard. I also think the uke is a much maligned instrument, the way hamburgers will be a much maligned food when people have nothing but MacDogmeat to judge it by.
Then again, I like country music, even though most people judge it by the dumb pop hat weariing crap that gets on the radio/tv/etc.
viva Issy.
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15th August 2007, 08:52 PM #8
Ukes are much maligned mainly because they have an image problem (thanks mainly to Tiny Tim). This problem can be fixed.
The reasons for maligning the hamburger however are more soundly based and nothing in this world will change this.Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)
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15th August 2007, 08:55 PM #9
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15th August 2007, 09:41 PM #10
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