Silly question

Nickie · Aug 4, 2015

I've always wondered, but never asked why, cause I thought it was too stupid a question, but my curiosity has gotten the best of me....
why are ukulele tops and back built of two bookend matched pieces instead of one piece?

jcalkin · Aug 4, 2015

One piece tops and backs occasionally pop up. As a rule, though, and especially on larger instruments, book matched plates are sisters, and more likely to have uniform stiffness and cosmetic qualities than a wider one piece plate.

sequoia · Aug 4, 2015

I've built ukes with one piece tops and/or backs so tops and backs are not always two book matched plates glued together. There was an extensive discussion on the advantages/disadvantages to book matching in an earlier thread in this forum, but I'm too lazy to look it up. Basically if I remember correctly the consensus was that book matching looks better because people like symmetry, consistency of grain, might or might not be structurally superior, easier to get rid of blemishes/flaws with a narrower piece of wood, can use smaller timber and that is just the way people do it darn it. Many other reasons...

The top below illustrates the disadvantages of the one piece spruce top. Note the darker grain in the lower right bout. An "orphaned guitar plate" which was sold as a one piece ukulele top. Otherwise, it would have been kindling or...

Michael N. · Aug 4, 2015

Actually I'm not that sure folk do like symmetry and consistency of grain. The type of wood that people go wild at seems to be the crazy, swirly, loopy stuff. It's all over the place. Everytime someone posts a picture of an instrument that displays that type of grain pattern it tends to illicit all sorts of joy and euphoria. It hardly matters how well (or badly) the instrument is constructed. Conversely if someone posts a picture of a well made instrument with boring grain everyone seems to ignore it!
On a Ukulele you can easily get one piece, perfectly well behaved, well cut wood that has zero bearing tonally or structurally. That's a bit more difficult on an instrument that is 12 or 14" across the lower bout though.

Bob Orr · Aug 4, 2015

There are no stupd or silly questions, just stupid answers! A general observation and not a comment on any posts made so far! Usually when someone asks what they think is a silly question there are many others who wanted to ask as well but were too afraid to do so.

Bob

wayfarer75 · Aug 4, 2015

I think the look of one piece tops/backs is really cool. It seems to me that it's just often easier to use smaller pieces of wood to bookmatch rather than one big one.

ksquine · Aug 4, 2015

I think most ukulele traditions come from guitar building traditions. Guitars almost always bookmatch because its hard to find wood wide enough for a 15 - 16" wide body. Bookmatching has a bunch of advantages in ukuleles too....
-You can have symmetrical grain patterns. Knots or dark spots look fine if they're on both sides
-You can have tight grain in the middle and wider grain towards the sides....some swear this is the key to great tone.
-You can use narrower stock that's more available and usually cheaper
-The top is more uniform in strength side to side

The only downside is the extra work of jointing and gluing the top/back plates. I've used one piece tops on sopranos or concerts and they work great. But I'm usually a bookmatcher

PeterF · Aug 4, 2015

I'm one of those people that love wild grain, but in my opinion it's then even more important to book match. Straight grain would look fine to me as a one piece top or back, but wild grain needs the symmetry to stop it looking messy.

sequoia · Aug 5, 2015

Michael N. said:
The type of wood that people go wild at seems to be the crazy, swirly, loopy stuff. It's all over the place. Everytime someone posts a picture of an instrument that displays that type of grain pattern it tends to illicit all sorts of joy and euphoria.

I hear what you are saying Michael. A beautifully built straight grained top doesn't garner the replies no matter how nice. I think the reason for this is that we are wood worker type people and wood worker type people respond to interesting grain in wood. Hey, its pretty. See the swirls! I'm as guilty of this as anyone. Yup. Some of this stuff is "crazy, swirly, loopy stuff", but really the question should be: How does it sound?

Michael N. · Aug 5, 2015

Oh I'm not referring to woodworkers, the comments are from players. I've heard it countless times on internet forum, I've heard it countless times in real life. I can understand some of the plain woods need something, Maple, Birch et al can look pretty boring when they are plain. It's the richer woods, they have enough going on anyway without the really wild figure. The point is the instrument then becomes all about that particular wood figure, as though it defines the quality of the instrument. Sounds like a rant, it probably is one. I think the older I get the less I feel the need to go with the fancy stuff, both wood and decoration.

Inksplosive AL · Aug 6, 2015

I have a well played Koaloha concert from 2001 that has a one piece top a one piece back and a one piece side. No split up the butt. Three pieces of wood, its not perfectly symmetrical wood grain wise and its beautiful. Timms ukuleles seem to have one piece tops that's why I'm waiting for the right one. That and my playing really doesn't deserve one yet.

Mostly the wood.

k0k0peli · Aug 6, 2015

Does anyone still carve body+neck from a single log?

k0k0peli · Aug 6, 2015

ubulele said:
The bitch is carving out the strings.

A laser-wielding robot would have no hu-hu there.

mvinsel · Aug 7, 2015

k0k0peli said:
Does anyone still carve body+neck from a single log?

Here's a one piece neck+sides if you don't mind the non traditional shape. I'd posted this one in progress in the What's Happening thread a bit ago.

.

On the neck+sides piece I started with a nice board of Alaska yellow cedar, so technically I didn't start with a log like I did for the spruce top.

I scorched the first bend with a rookie move on the hot pipe.

I'm sticking with steam bending for the future.

I'm very pleased with the sound and feel of the finished first one. For my preference, reducing the treble side while emphasizing the bass side sounds fine with a spruce top.

Back to earlier in the thread, I didn't use a tailblock and ended up with a balance point under the 10th fret. Is there a rule of thumb for what's best?

Also, I am still on the lookout for any other ukes in this shape if anyone has seen any, past or present.

-Vinnie in Juneau

strumsilly · Aug 7, 2015

Most of my older [vintage ] ukes are one piece. Probably because it was more available then. I had a Favilla classical guitar that was huge and it had a giant one piece slabs of mahog for the top and back. Beautiful grain too. Now I think what would have been scrap for someone who also makes guitars can be used to make a bookmatched uke.

Silly question

Nickie

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jcalkin

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sequoia

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Michael N.

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Bob Orr

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wayfarer75

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ksquine

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PeterF

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sequoia

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Michael N.

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Inksplosive AL

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