Mainland Cedar Concert - aDF#B

Ukuleleblues

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Bought a Mainland Cedar concert uke as a replacement for my old harmony concert that I play in D tuning.

I have an Ohana spruce top I was going to use as a replacement. After a year or so of being tuned to D, one day at the beach on a drizzly day, I noticed a pronounced bulge at the bridge. Had to tune it back to C where it has been ever since with no issues.

Got Big Island Koa concert that is tuned to D with no issues and a few Mahogony concerts.

Mahogony and Koa are a lot harder than spruce. Where is Cedar on the spectrum? Do y'all know. Do you think the cedar top will take aDF#B with no top bulge problems?

I am using std aquilas.
 
I think cedar is pretty close to spruce softness wise. My Mainland soprano cedar pineapple has a slight bulge forming in the lower bout by the bridge and I've only ever used it in C tuning.


ETA: I'm pretty hard on this uke. It's the one that I camp and travel with most often. It's probably been through some radical temp and humidity changes, so that may play a significant role on the slight bulging and dipping in the top.
 
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I would check out Southcoast strings. They offer several different string types that take into account the scale, tension, and tuning. You should be able to get a set that would provide the right tension in D tuning.

http://www.southcoastukes.com/string%20sets.htm
 
Sitka Spruce is considerably stronger than Western Red Cedar.

An amazing amount of information can be found here:

http://www.wood-database.com


Scooter
 
I also spend a lot of time on the UMGF (Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum), where some of the top luthiers in the field seriously geek out on wood. It has been extraordinarily informative "listening in" on those threads over the years.


Scooter
 
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