Laminates

VegasGeorge · Aug 23, 2015

I'm sort of worried about myself. You see, I have this nice Fender T-Bucket tenor Uke. It's all laminate construction. And, I like it. It looks good, feels nice in my hand, plays well, and sounds decent. But it's the poor relation in my Ukulele collection, hanging there amidst the solid Koa woods. I have this urge to put it back in the cabinet, and stop wasting my time playing it when I could be playing one of my much nicer instruments. But, I don't. I keep playing it. It's kind of like the excitement of dating a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. I even find myself playing tunes that I wouldn't normally play on my other Ukes, stuff like "Before The Next Teardrop Falls." I can almost smell the stale beer! I would hesitate to play it in public, for fear of getting into a brawl. I guess it's bringing out the "bad boy" in me. I feel so guilty!

weerpool · Aug 23, 2015

if it feels nice and you love playing it, don't stop. laminate or not, i think its all about how it makes you feel at the end of the day.

PhilUSAFRet · Aug 23, 2015

My bias is that ukes should be fun. If you have fun playing it, nuff said.

Walker78 · Aug 23, 2015

Laminates can be just fine, especially for playing at home. I agree with the two guys above. I also strongly agree with your signature quote! So very true

SteveZ · Aug 23, 2015

Laminates, especially with guitars, have been around for a long time. There's good and bad there, just as in solids. My favorite uke (the 6-string) is a laminate and it sings beautifully in spite of me.

DownUpDave · Aug 23, 2015

I still own my first uke, an all laminate Gretsch tenor named Dirty Gurdy. I have sold off much more expensive solid wood ukes but kept the "fun girl" around

kvehe · Aug 24, 2015

I have one like that; it's the Takamine in my avatar. It doesn't sound the best, but it sounds fine considering its price, and for some reason I find it the easiest to play. I would never, ever let it go.

Russellbarnett · Aug 24, 2015

My Kanilea tenor was laminated. I liked not ever having to worry about the humidity, contact with sweat, etc. When I got my Ken Potts tenor (he uses french polish to finish them) I asked about it and he told me to just wipe the instrument down with a soft cloth when I was done. Sometimes I remember, sometimes I don't, but I do miss not having to worry about it.

As for sound, I never had any complaints about the sound of the Kanilea so it didn't seem to noticeably affect things.

igorthebarbarian · Aug 24, 2015

Good post. Thanks for sharing! I am lazy and live in AZ so I'm very pro-laminate myself. Digging my Famous (budget-Kiwaya's) for the reasons mentioned above

Hippie Dribble · Aug 24, 2015

I have two ukes around 2k and several other rippers. But the one I play most (well, maybe aside from my Ono) is the cheapest: a laminate Kala ebony concert. I adore it's sound and playability. Money spent bears no relation to joy experienced when it comes to ukes. I love em all!!!

Debby · Aug 24, 2015

Hippie Dribble said:
I have two ukes around 2k and several other rippers. But the one I play most (well, maybe aside from my Ono) is the cheapest: a laminate Kala ebony concert. I adore it's sound and playability. Money spent bears no relation to joy experienced when it comes to ukes. I love em all!!!

I love the music you play on that Kala ebony concert. It's some of my fave music!

sarastro · Aug 24, 2015

Nothing inherently wrong with laminates. My Kiwaya KS-0 is a fine instrument both in terms of playability and sound.

VegasGeorge · Aug 24, 2015

OK, OK, you guy are WAY to serious about this. I was trying in my clumsy way to poke fun at my own attitude about laminate versus solid wood instruments. And, yes, I know that any prejudice I might have is totally irrational. But honestly, don't any of you guys feel just a little less civilized when wielding that street smart, rough and ready laminate Uke? It's like, "Get in my face and I'll smack you with this Uke." But, I'd never do that with one of my beautiful Koas.

Uk3player78 · Aug 24, 2015

All of mine are laminate M brands. I love em all and bring my flavour of the week everywhere. The ukulele is a fun instrument with a small sound board.

Sure i have had all solid wood ukuleles in the past, i'm a guitarist i quit ukulele for a year of the 4 i have been playing. Upon my return around 9 months ago i bought a laminate Mahalo U320T Tenor with the intention of moving 'up' but instead i added a Makala Dolphin and one Makala MK C brown concert.

They are all way better than they should be and bring me much joy. Shoot me but my acoustic guitar has to be all solid and high quality and it is. Ex Martin player now playing a rare Martin eater.

Ukulele? Its all about the fun. Its not about cost. I'm use to 'mine is better than yours' guitar forums. Ukulele is a refreshing change. :music:

bnolsen · Aug 24, 2015

the kiwayas and martin oxk are high end lams. not exactly slumming it with those. tone and sustain on my oxk is very good, the kiwayas should be competitive.

"mine is better than yours

": it seems my butler music lanikai lu21p gets most of the play time and my other butler music lu21b now gets a bit of love as well. i finally think I figured out why. My lu21p has a wide nut, wider string spacing than my oxk, the same string spacing as my concert fluke. seems to help my foray into fingerpicking.

igorthebarbarian · Aug 25, 2015

I think there's this mental block-thing that says "hey it's a laminate, screw it, have fun, go to town on it" vs. a nicer more expensive all-solid wood, where you'd be thinking "be careful, this thing costs a lot!". Like it's almost "too nice to play". I have clothes like that, where they're "too nice to wear". My mind is broken!

Mivo · Aug 25, 2015

igorthebarbarian said:
I think there's this mental block-thing that says "hey it's a laminate, screw it, have fun, go to town on it" vs. a nicer more expensive all-solid wood, where you'd be thinking "be careful, this thing costs a lot!". Like it's almost "too nice to play". I have clothes like that, where they're "too nice to wear". My mind is broken!

It's not just you.

I find myself doing the majority of my practicing and playing on my factory manufactured $180 soprano instead of my Barron River tenor or my newly acquired vintage 1920s soprano. I'm not worried about the Chinese soprano because it's easily replaceable (although it is very well set up with great intonation; comes from the same factory churns out KPKs), and there's no emotional attachment, though I get increasingly fond of it.

It also lives on seat or on my desk, outside of a case, so it's very accessible and I can just grab it when I feel like spending a few minutes with it. Taking the others out of their cases is more of a deliberate act, and somehow that also contributes to them being less played.

Expensive instruments almost seem to have a prohibitive, intimidating effect on me.

k0k0peli · Aug 25, 2015

Hippie Dribble said:
Money spent bears no relation to joy experienced when it comes to ukes.

Or any other instruments. Most of my acoustic guitars, mandos, 'ukes etc are laminates and/or metal or plastic. Yes, I have a few with 'solid' wood including a Harmonia concert 'uke (China), vintage Martin tiple and luthier-crafted Celtic mandolin and Maffick mountain dulcimer (USA), Art et Lutherie guitar (Canada), and an old Martin Backpacker guitar (Mexico) with neck and body carved from a single hunk of mahogany -- THAT is SOLID! Some were costly, most weren't. The costly ones aren't necessarily played the most.

I have one I'm almost ashamed of but big deal. The Soviet-era Lunacharsky mandolin (US$30 a few weeks ago) looks like a POS but with only minor setup tweaking sounds and plays just fine. Yes, it's 'solid', sort of. No, it's not as mellow as the Celtic that cost 23x more. I contrast it with my bright flashy Chinese F-type mando with a thin voice. If I crashed a bluegrass jam with the F-type (and I'm not a great BG player) I'd be thought uppity and ignorant. If I showed up with the Lunacharsky boat-paddle I'd be pitied and tolerated.

Most good cigar boxes are solid wood, right? So a CBG or CBU would be 'solid', not laminated. Think about it.

actadh · Aug 25, 2015

This year seems like it has been either cold or humid - neither good for a "real" uke.

The most playing time this year has been on the OXK and the plastic ukes. All are fun to play, too.

Forget wiping off with a soft cloth. I have been scrubbing off sand, sweat, marshmallows, ice cream, puppy nose prints, and sticky toddler finger marks. And, getting a lot of playing time instead of worrying about my uke.

VegasGeorge · Aug 25, 2015

igorthebarbarian said:
I think there's this mental block-thing that says "hey it's a laminate, screw it, have fun, go to town on it" .... My mind is broken!

Hey, that's it! "Go to town" describes it well. I pull out my all laminate Fender, and all I can think about is "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights!" Mostly the "wasted" part.

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