Cedar Tops & Durability - Issue or Not?

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etzeppy

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I'm trying to help my wife pick out a new tenor. She's been playing a Kala laminate and wants to graduate up to a nice solid wood model. She likes the online sound clips of several Pono's with cedar tops. However, as a guitar player myself, I know that cedar is soft and can have durability issues. She doesn't want to get a really nice Pono and then watch it get dinged and scratched easily. However, that might not be big issue for finger-style ukulele. Other options she is considering are Pono Acacia and Kanile'a Koa.

I'm looking for feedback from the experts. I don't want to make an issue of something that is not generally a problem.

Thanks

Keith
 
keith

i'm not an expert and am a bit put off with the cedar thing and would probably find a spruce or hardwood top i like as well. that said i wouldn't let the durability issue stand in the way. first thing let the instrument take its dings and get character. you're not going to beat in the same way a guitar gets its abuse.
i am probably a hardwood top guy. figure out who your wife is and get a good instrument without a second thought.
 
chuck in ny said:
figure out who your wife is
Click to expand...

If you hadn't figured this out by the time you got married this could be a real voyage of discovery for you.

I've got a cedar top uke (Omega Klasiko). The sound is clear and well balanced. I've not noticed it marking up or similar any more easily than my mahogany ukes - you're talking serious abuse for it to affect the durability of the instrument. I find my ukes get bashed less than guitars as well as there's simply less of them to bash into things. One piece of advice I always try to stick to is to go for what I like, not what I subsequently talk myself into getting for x reason or y reason. If your wife likes the sound of the cedar Ponos then that's what she's going to be happy with - otherwise she'll end up wondering what could have been. And you'll end up with more ukes as you get what she originally wanted anyway. Which is not necessarily a bad thing! I could have saved myself a lot of cash by buying a decent tenor first time rather than trying to get a good deal here, or sacrificing a feature there and hoping I'll be satisfied. I've blown through a load of tenors and ended up with the one I originally wanted anyway.

Also worth searching for thoughts on those cedar Ponos - if I remember rightly the people that own them love them.
 
My wife has had Kala cedar top for a number of years and there has been no issues. Granted, she doesn't use it very much and the substantial Kala gloss finish probably adds a ton of protection, so that may not be reflective of the Pono.

I recently picked up a cedar top with a very light finish and I treat it with much greater care than koa or mahogany. Even spruce is soft enough to get dinged if not taken care of.

One thing I think you are correct about is cedar and fingerpicking. This is less about durability and more about how much you can drive the cedar top. For me, it has good volume but can distort (probably not the right word) with hard strumming.

John
 
I love the dings and scratches on my cedar topped Griffin; shows me that it's being played and loved. They bring out the character of a well made and played uke. A friend has the cedar/rosewood combo and in the three years not scratches whatsoever.
 
+1, I agree 110% with Pirate Jim. Get what she wants. I didn't, and regretted it every time I played. Got the cedar top concert I really wanted and love it with every strum and fingerpicked note. For me, it works just as well for strumming, but she may play differently. String choice is also a factor. But as to the original question, I haven't found durability to be an issue. I do keep the uke in a hard case, but I'd do that with any solid wood uke. My guitar gets knocked about, but that's because it's big. I carry the uke, cased (or around the house not), in one hand, and it's fine. Most cedar top ukes are finished in gloss - mine is, and I think that protects them as well. Even if the uke does pick up some dings, they probably won't compromise the structure of the uke. That would take more than normal wear and tear IMO.
 
Thanks for the input so far. I think she's trying to decide between cedar and something more traditional like Koa or Acacia. She was not sure if the durability of cedar should be a consideration or not. It's looking like only a minor consideration if at all.
 
If she likes the sound of cedar, get a cedar, and put a iPad screen protector on the strum area.
They work great for strum marks, and they're usually static cling, so there's no adhesive residue if you take it off later.
I buy them on evil bay, for like $2 delivered from China and they work great without affecting the sound.

It's not going to stop like.. dropping it, or banging it into a stand.. but then again.. neither would hardwood.
 
There's an old husband's tale about cedar breaking down and essentially going "dead" after a while, but there's no validity to it. All else being equal, cedar will produce a warmer tone, and with steel strings it might be over-driven by hard strumming, but it's a perfectly viable top wood that's been used for ages in classical guitars and, more recently steel string models.

If the thought is that cedar will literally break, that will only occur on instruments that aren't built properly. It may ding a little more easily than spruce, but spruce isn't exactly hard as nails.
 
I have a Pono pro classic cedar top tenor and after one year of hard use it has a few dings and scratches. Now this uke gets used and handled a lot. It goes to uke jams, camping, cottages and I use it exclusively in the ensemble I play in. None of my other ukes show this kind of wear but none of them have got that much use. I have no issues with the way it has held up. You don't do any hard strumming with a pick like on an acoustic guitar.

If she loves the sound of a Pono cedar top by all means get it.
 
spookelele said:
If she likes the sound of cedar, get a cedar, and put a iPad screen protector on the strum area.
They work great for strum marks, and they're usually static cling, so there's no adhesive residue if you take it off later.
I buy them on evil bay, for like $2 delivered from China and they work great without affecting the sound.

It's not going to stop like.. dropping it, or banging it into a stand.. but then again.. neither would hardwood.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have thought of a screen protector, thanks for sharing!
 
I have a Mainland red cedar tenor which gets used for street busking and uke club meets in pubs at least several times a week and after a year it shows very few dings - and those that are there are on the purfling. It travels in a hard case and the same when not being used at home. And by the way, with fluorocarbon strings and an MSI pickup, this is a great sounding uke at a great price.
 
It definitely scratches easily but it's my favourite soundboard wood for a uke.
 
I'm with Andy- I have a few cedar tops (a souhtcoast soprano concert scale, boat paddle kayak concert 5 string, and a Bruko large body concert)- I really like the sound cedar produces!
 
Owned two cedar-topped ukes in the past.

They scratch easily, even with something as simple as a string change. This is a factor if one ever considers future resale; lifelong keeper, not a resale question.

The sound of cedar, in my opinion, is mushier, not as loud, not a sparkling as spruce.

I would not buy another cedar-topped ukulele. I love spruce-topped ukuleles (and guitars, where spruce is used much, much more frequently as a topwood).

Ymmv. Good luck on the Pono (one of my cedar-topped models was a Pono).
 
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I think that for most people, image is important. The difference is in what image that image is. Some like that spiffy polished look, and some people like that worn down "been there" look. I'm personally of the later persuasion. I couldn't wait to get those honest dings and scratches that come from playing the hell out of my ukulele. But each of us has our own self image. I am neither a seller, nor a collector, so I either keep using something until it wears out, then I get a new one. Either that, or I decide that what I have is not meeting my needs, and I get a new one. That is just me, but if I wanted a cedar ukulele, I would buy it, and if it wore out, I would get another one. But then, if your self image is of you playing a pristine ukulele, with no signs of wear, well, that is a whole different game.
 
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My Kinnard Tenor has a cedar top and not one scratch. I guess it is soft, but it is holding up just fine.
 
I've found with cedar that the finish is important to how easily the top will be damaged. One of my first ukes was a satin cedar top Kala that could be easily scratched with your fingernail. That was also one of the best sounding ukes I've ever owned.
 
iDavid said:
My Kinnard Tenor has a cedar top and not one scratch. I guess it is soft, but it is holding up just fine.
Click to expand...


david
things are tough all over. you must have died with joy to get that instrument.
 
I would get the ukulele you desire, play the heck out of it, and consider any dings that happen to be blessing!
 
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