Radius Neck. Is it Snake Oil?

I have a Breedlove Uke with a radiused fretboard, the advantage was when barring chords, there was less stress on my hand. It didn't seem to affect finger-picking in any way.

The real snake oil in the uke/guitar world: "The wood on your uke will open up."

agreed about barre chords. Simple Eb seems easier on my dolphin which is radiused. It sort of compensates for the closer string spacing the dolphin has relative to my other ukuleles.

Cheeso said:

The real snake oil in the uke/guitar world: "The wood on your uke will open up."

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:agree:

(Although some days it seems that my uke sounds better than on other days. I think it's the humidity. Or... could it be me?)

Cheeso said:

The real snake oil in the uke/guitar world: "The wood on your uke will open up."

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I couldn't disagree more but that's a horse that's been beaten to death. Never mind me though, it seems my views are contrary to most on Uke talk!

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

I couldn't disagree more but that's a horse that's been beaten to death. Never mind me though, it seems my views are contrary to most on Uke talk!

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Haha...Chuck, I agree with everything you say..in the uke World you are one if not The best builder...

my ukes all open up in time(and sound better)...but I only have 8....maybe Stan can give more feedback...
but I do have one Koa(top) one that is taking a while too(been 2 years)...but I have high hopes for this uke.....in the end it will be a better sounding uke....for sure..

hawaii 50 said:

....but I do have one Koa(top) one that is taking a while too(been 2 years)...but I have high hopes for this uke.....in the end it will be a better sounding uke....for sure..

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Maybe that's where the confusion is. A poorly or improperly built uke may never open up noticeably.
Stan doesn't know how many ukes he has. When he counts them he always nods off when the number gets somewhat past 100. It's his version of counting sheep.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Maybe that's where the confusion is. A poorly or improperly built uke may never open up noticeably.

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I think the "opening up" is too often used as an excuse for a not-so-nice sounding new uke. "Oh, you don't like the sound now? Just wait--it'll open up." Well, I want my uke to sound nice now, not in a few months/years.

wayfarer75 said:

I think the "opening up" is too often used as an excuse for a not-so-nice sounding new uke. "Oh, you don't like the sound now? Just wait--it'll open up." Well, I want my uke to sound nice now, not in a few months/years.

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yes I think you are right...the one uke that I have does not sound that great...so all I can say is it should open up in the future...been 2 years but I not giving up yet....

btw I have bad hands..after being a mailman for many years....all of my custom ukes have a radius on the fretboard...it works for me

My take on the question of whether or not instruments open up as the instrument is played is pretty simple. Notwithstanding my sound (so to speak) belief that well built solid wood instruments do open up, I also believe that some folks don't hear the change.

Ears and hearing are finicky things. This "opening up" topic always gets more play than the fact that there is often considerably more aging related changes happening with auditory function than with tone woods.

When I read someone state categorically that they do not believe that instrument aging and maturation can change what they hear, I believe them.

I don't think I give ukes time to "open up". If it doesn't sound good enough for me within the first month or so, I let it go. However, the ones that I keep, I think they sound better than when I first get them...or ast least I like to imagine.

One important thing to remember is preferential sound is subjective so even if I didn't care for a uke, someone else might love it and vice versa.

wayfarer75 said:

Well, I want my uke to sound nice now, not in a few months/years.

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Not too worry, the majority of the ukes that are off the shelf have matured for at least a few months if not years. They've also been exposed to ambient vibrations which helps the process somewhat. At the time of sale many of them have opened up as much as they are going to. With a custom built uke, most of the maturing (opening up) will occur within the first month and continue for a year or so. The curing of the finish has a lot to do with the way the uke responds and lacquer can take a year to fully cure. Very few people have played a "fresh" uke. After completing an uke I notice a substantial improvement within a few days of the uke being under string tension. I also think that the individual wood components need time to shake hands and get along with each other and work harmoniously together. OK, that part may be hocus-pocus but I do believe that the more a newly built uke is played (and played hard) the faster it will sound better.

Have we successfully sidetracked this thread now? Sorry about that!

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Not too worry, the majority of the ukes that are off the shelf have matured for at least a few months if not years. They've also been exposed to ambient vibrations which helps the process somewhat. At the time of sale many of them have opened up as much as they are going to. With a custom built uke, most of the maturing (opening up) will occur within the first month and continue for a year or so. The curing of the finish has a lot to do with the way the uke responds and lacquer can take a year to fully cure. Very few people have played a "fresh" uke. After completing an uke I notice a substantial improvement within a few days of the uke being under string tension. I also think that the individual wood components need time to shake hands and get along with each other and work harmoniously together. OK, that part may be hocus-pocus but I do believe that the more a newly built uke is played (and played hard) the faster it will sound better.

Have we successfully sidetracked this thread now? Sorry about that!

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That makes a lot of sense. There's no way I'm affording a custom any time soon, so the ukes I'd buy have been in the shops for a while, not to mention the time it takes to get to the shops from the builders. They're not "fresh," as you put it--so I wouldn't experience the "opening up" process.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Maybe that's where the confusion is. A poorly or improperly built uke may never open up noticeably.
Stan doesn't know how many ukes he has. When he counts them he always nods off when the number gets somewhat past 100. It's his version of counting sheep.

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Aloha Chuckie,,
Your Koa masterpiece you made for me has opened up so much and is sounding so amazing and beautiful , love it so much with my Milo spuce too... Kiana is still waiting for her little sister and she will be a bit smaller and easier to hold with my bad back. I still think your ukes are the best in the world .....I feel priviliged to have them and get to play them, it just blows me away everytime I play them... Geez I wish I had a 100 MB's but just one more will do for now...

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Not too worry, the majority of the ukes that are off the shelf have matured for at least a few months if not years. They've also been exposed to ambient vibrations which helps the process somewhat. At the time of sale many of them have opened up as much as they are going to. With a custom built uke, most of the maturing (opening up) will occur within the first month and continue for a year or so. The curing of the finish has a lot to do with the way the uke responds and lacquer can take a year to fully cure. Very few people have played a "fresh" uke. After completing an uke I notice a substantial improvement within a few days of the uke being under string tension. I also think that the individual wood components need time to shake hands and get along with each other and work harmoniously together. OK, that part may be hocus-pocus but I do believe that the more a newly built uke is played (and played hard) the faster it will sound better.

Have we successfully sidetracked this thread now? Sorry about that!

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I'm lucky enough to have a few custom ukuleles that I got when they were "fresh," and that's been my experience with them. I've also heard other luthiers talk about the components of an ukulele (and guitars, mandolins, etc.) needing to acclimate to one another, and that's never sounded like hocus pocus to me. Some of the wood has been bent into new shapes, and the woods are being placed under stresses (string tension, vibration) to which they are not accustomed. Even though many people tend to see wood instruments as inanimate objects, the wood itself was, at one time, living tissue, and it makes perfect sense to me that the wood would continue to change under new circumstances. I obtained my only Moore Bettah from its previous owner, but it was only a few months old when I got it, and although I probably missed the majority of the opening up process, it sounds noticeably better to my ear now than when I first got it. (A "fresh" MB is an experience that I'd love to have. ) I have two baritone Compass Rose ukuleles (a steel string and an octave nylon string) that both sounded and felt significantly better at producing sound within weeks of my having gotten them.

I once almost fell asleep trying to count Stan's ukuleles.

Hey, Stan doesn't have very many ukes....he said so. Right Stan?
I don't know about all of this wood stuff, but my Ohana, which is suppsoed to have only a solid wood top, sounds better than the day I got it. It's louder, clearer, crisper sounding, and it sounded pretty darn good when I got it. Even though I think the Moore Bettah is the Holy Grail, I might never own one, because of funds, which sucks. Even so, I told Tammy that this little Ohana may have cured my UAS (I said "for now" under my breath). I'm ready to try some different strings on it soon. I wish it had a radiused fretboard, and a more comfortable "armrest", I wouldn't look any further. (But I'd still drool every time I see/hear a MB)

I just ordered my first custom Uke, an SC. Really surprised at myself because I never thought I would do that. I have always been a "hold it and play it before you buy it kinda guy" but the video of the last one he made blew me away. It looked good and it sounded great and nowadays music means more to me than ever, so I'm getting a custom Uke. It's very exciting.