Opening a can of worms with a ten foot pole

I've seen studies like this one before, but not nearly as ambitious. It concerns differences between traditional and non traditional woods in classical guitars, which translates as tropical and non tropical woods.

Does it concern ukes? No. Yes. Well maybe. Or?

Anyway I just prepared some alder neck blanks and some lilac and laburnum fretboards, and I enjoy working with native woods. As much as I enjoy working with mahogany and rosewood.

http://www.leonardo-guitar-research.com/research-report-lgrp

Very interesting report, goes to show that visual impressions are very instrumental (pun intended) in how we perceive an instrument's tone and/or quality. Good to see a thorough report, which was done scientifically as well.

Btw, I'd love to see your results Sven, being a Swede myself it would be very interesting to see an all swedish wood uke !

Those ukes will sound great Sven. Juha Lottonen from Finland has built some truly great ukes out of alder and it is his exclusive neck wood. I love it but trying to sell a white/cream uke is like spitting into the wind. In the end, people want something to match the furniture (Juha stains his ukes)... I also use laburnum for fingerboards and bridges - if you can get pre-fossilized bog oak that is stable it will make a nice contrast with the alder.

I totally agree with the results of this study so it must be true
I do think that a lot of the appeal of exotic tone woods is that they look so pretty....look at the cost of plain walnut vs figured.
Pretty impressive that someone paid for 20 identically constructed guitars in various woods. I'd love to hear sound clips to listen to the difference in tone

The point of the study was that there was little difference between them...

Thank God, I refuse to believe anything that can be proven.

So there.