I bought this uke a couple years ago from a store in Buffalo, NY. They swore that it was Koa but the more I look at it, the more I think it may actually be Monkeypod. The uke itself I believe to be a Ka-Lai/Ka-Lae made in the Kamaka factory, based on info at the Ukulele Database. The sides and neck are made from a single piece of wood.
Do you think it's Koa or Monkeypod?
I think it looks like mahogany, especially the top. I had a Lanikai solid top monkey pod and it doesn't look much like yours. Mine had very thick grain and more brown/beige color variations. It also cracked during low humidity.
i hear that Johnny Lai used the Kamaka factory at night to build his ukes a while back...he could be related to the Kamaka's...and it is Koa....not sure if the whole uke made with one piece though
Top and back look like koa, sides and neck look like monkeypod. I have seen a lot of ukuleles made with this style of construction (neck and sides from one piece of wood), and all have had monkeypod sides & neck. I'm not a luthier, but I have always assumed that this construction style wastes a lot of wood. Monkeypod was probably cheap enough to make this method possible (and profitable) but not koa.
Top and back look like koa, sides and neck look like monkeypod. I have seen a lot of ukuleles made with this style of construction (neck and sides from one piece of wood), and all have had monkeypod sides & neck. I'm not a luthier, but I have always assumed that this construction style wastes a lot of wood. Monkeypod was probably cheap enough to make this method possible (and profitable) but not koa.
That was my guess, top and back look like one piece koa, sides and heel look like monkeypod. I had a couple of nice older monkeypod ukes. I think the swirls of darker color and the grain pattern are distinctive from koa, but that's just from personal observation. You can go look at guitar wood suppliers online and see wood samples and compare.
I attached photos of my circa 1940 Kamaka pineapple, which was a "special" model, and totally had to be monkeypod from comparable photos I saw online. Kamaka dated it for me from the photos, but I can't remember if they verified monkeypod.