Thread: Tonewood for Ukulele

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 Martin

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

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!!

regards

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.

regards

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.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

This one in Blackwood and Engleman Spruce (The Uke, not Doug) Sorry he's covering it up!

Moral of the story....people with big hairy arms should play the guitar. Those of us with spindly hairless girlie-like arms should take up the ukelele.

mmmm
this guy is no slouch on the uke