Laminate or plywood
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Croaky Keith
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Some of the very cheap ones could well be made out of plywood, but all reasonably priced ones are laminates.
Which is of a totally different quality.
Which is of a totally different quality.
Plywood - laminate?
I recently bought a very cheap soprano uke direct from China and broke it up to use the neck for a cigarbox uke. The body was quite difficult to break, and didn't seem to contain any wood at all - apart from the bracing and the lining material. The front, back and sides seemed to be made from straight, quite coarse fibres bound together in resin, with an extremely thin surface finish that simulated the appearance of wood grain. It resembled the stuff used for surfaces on kitchen cupboards and shelves. I would call it a laminate.
This might sound derogatory but the uke looked good, was very strong, would probably handle extremes of temperature and humidity very well, and it sounded decent, considering its low cost.
The difference between plywood and laminated wood is largely one of semantics, or individual perception. It is all laminated wood, but of varying quality.
I recently bought a very cheap soprano uke direct from China and broke it up to use the neck for a cigarbox uke. The body was quite difficult to break, and didn't seem to contain any wood at all - apart from the bracing and the lining material. The front, back and sides seemed to be made from straight, quite coarse fibres bound together in resin, with an extremely thin surface finish that simulated the appearance of wood grain. It resembled the stuff used for surfaces on kitchen cupboards and shelves. I would call it a laminate.
This might sound derogatory but the uke looked good, was very strong, would probably handle extremes of temperature and humidity very well, and it sounded decent, considering its low cost.
The difference between plywood and laminated wood is largely one of semantics, or individual perception. It is all laminated wood, but of varying quality.
I don't have anything against it, I'm a beginner and pretty satisfied with mine. I was just wondering because my guitar, which is made of solid wood, has warped a bit.
https://ortegaguitars.com/product-finder/ukuleles/ukulele/show/Product/ru5mm/ru5mm/ This is it.
https://ortegaguitars.com/product-finder/ukuleles/ukulele/show/Product/ru5mm/ru5mm/ This is it.
Bill Potter
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Some of the very cheap ones could well be made out of plywood, but all reasonably priced ones are laminates.
Which is of a totally different quality.
To me, plywood is a laminate. How do you think they are different?
Ukecaster
Well-known member
Regular cheaper laminate (more like regular plywood) vs. High Pressure Laminate (HPL), like Martin and Kiwaya use on some models?
It's commonly accepted that anything that does not specifically say 'all solid wood' is a form of laminate.
Plywood, by definition as used in lumber is layers of wood that have been milled to a specific size and then glued together and heat-pressed. Particle board is basically very fine wood chips that were mixed with glue or resin as a sort of paste, and then heat-pressed into boards using a mold shape during the heat-press process.
Laminated instruments are usually made from very thin layers of wood, like a veneer, with the layers having the wood grain cross at 90 degree angles, and is considered very strong and resilient, and cheap ukes and guitars tend to be just painted over, but a slightly higher end, but can still be cheaper cost instrument, usually has a veneer on top of some actual nice looking wood, to give it a nice appearance, and that wood can be mahogany, spruce, whatever...
HPL, 'high pressure laminate' is basically formica, which is layers of paper that are impregnated with resin and heat-pressed much like the other methods above, and often can have either a photo-transfer on top or a real wood veneer on top.
there is also melamine or MDF, which is basically finely shredded cardboard, also embedded with a resin and then heat-pressed into shape, and can ALSO be layered or laminated.
If an instrument is warped, laminated or all-solid, there are several possible causes, but poor humidity control is a common culprit, as fluctuations in a wide range of humidity can cause the wood to expand and contract relative to it's absorbed moisture content, and eventually these changes can cause warping or cracks.
Due to the way that 'laminate' instruments are made, they are less susceptible to such damages.
There are GOOD laminate ukes and guitars that sound and play great, as well as BAD all-solid wood instruments that can sound and play actually WORSE than a good laminate, and there's a bit of artificial snobbery about all-solid-wood instruments ALWAYS being 'better' than laminates, and this is simply NOT true at all.
So, if YOU like the sound of your laminate uke, and other people tell you it's crap because it's laminate, I would suggest to ignore anything else they say after that, because the consensus from both the internet, and 500 yrs of luthery, is that they are wrong, misinformed, or just completely ignorant.
Plywood, by definition as used in lumber is layers of wood that have been milled to a specific size and then glued together and heat-pressed. Particle board is basically very fine wood chips that were mixed with glue or resin as a sort of paste, and then heat-pressed into boards using a mold shape during the heat-press process.
Laminated instruments are usually made from very thin layers of wood, like a veneer, with the layers having the wood grain cross at 90 degree angles, and is considered very strong and resilient, and cheap ukes and guitars tend to be just painted over, but a slightly higher end, but can still be cheaper cost instrument, usually has a veneer on top of some actual nice looking wood, to give it a nice appearance, and that wood can be mahogany, spruce, whatever...
HPL, 'high pressure laminate' is basically formica, which is layers of paper that are impregnated with resin and heat-pressed much like the other methods above, and often can have either a photo-transfer on top or a real wood veneer on top.
there is also melamine or MDF, which is basically finely shredded cardboard, also embedded with a resin and then heat-pressed into shape, and can ALSO be layered or laminated.
If an instrument is warped, laminated or all-solid, there are several possible causes, but poor humidity control is a common culprit, as fluctuations in a wide range of humidity can cause the wood to expand and contract relative to it's absorbed moisture content, and eventually these changes can cause warping or cracks.
Due to the way that 'laminate' instruments are made, they are less susceptible to such damages.
There are GOOD laminate ukes and guitars that sound and play great, as well as BAD all-solid wood instruments that can sound and play actually WORSE than a good laminate, and there's a bit of artificial snobbery about all-solid-wood instruments ALWAYS being 'better' than laminates, and this is simply NOT true at all.
So, if YOU like the sound of your laminate uke, and other people tell you it's crap because it's laminate, I would suggest to ignore anything else they say after that, because the consensus from both the internet, and 500 yrs of luthery, is that they are wrong, misinformed, or just completely ignorant.
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Great post, Booli. Says it all, really.
Nickie
Well-known member
Yep, Booli not only knows his tech stuff, but he knows uke wood stuff too!
Booli is right! I've spent years messing around with carbon fiber violins and -- more recently -- ukes. This may be sacrilegious to many, but wood is only one of the materials useful in instrument making. There is no reason why a well made, nicely voiced high pressure laminate instrument should be thought of as inferior to a solid wood version. On the other hand, I love wood, it's variability and -- when well handled -- it's sound.
All plywoods are laminates but not all laminates are plywood. The "resistance to humidity" characteristic is actually a resistance to splitting or swelling as a result of too little or too much moisture absorbed into the wood in the case of plywood vs solid wood. Some laminates do not absorb water, some do.
