How long does it take to a full Koa wood instrument to open up?

Lillo

Lillo

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Hi everyone! :)
I thought this might be the right section of the forum to ask you a question whose answer I am really curious about!

I know that for full wood instruments (and not laminated) something 'magical' happens: after some time that the instrument is used, it opens up and changes sound, tone and volume. Fascinating!

I just purchased my first full Koa instrument (Kanile'a k1 gloss tenor) and I was wondering how it will behave in the future.

Could someone explain me the process that occurs in the instrument? Would you also know how long does it take (on average. I am sure it depends on many factors) to a uke to open up considering a daily usage?

Thanks! I am really intrigued by this topic! Wood is a wonderful material :)

Cheers
 
You will get all kinds of answers ranging from one month to a few years to never. This topic is a polarizing one but the answers are always interesting. I will sit back with the popcorn and enjoy the debate.
 
Yup there's tons of factors and possible influences on the "opening up" process. Wood is very much an organic thing that moves and changes over time, so it's hard to predict. How often an instrument is played and how hard it's played is also another influence, in addition to environment. How the wood was dried and for how long before building as well as how it was cut I'm sure is also a factor. Suffice to say, there's a lot of things that go into your question for sure.

I have one Koa uke, a koaloha, and for whatever reason, it sounds extremely opened up right from the start even though it's relatively new made in February 2016
 
This is an unanswerable question. Anyone who says otherwise is dealing in hearsay and conjecture. =)
 
Lillo said:
I know that for full wood instruments (and not laminated) something 'magical' happens: after some time that the instrument is used, it opens up and changes sound, tone and volume. Fascinating!
Click to expand...

Well, then you know more than numerous guitarists and other players of stringed instruments who have fiercely argued about this for decades and never reached a consensus. :)
 
Every answer was awesome! :)
I guess it's a tough topic.

Recstar I had read already that Koaloha sound bright and opened from the beginning, while some like Kanile'a all the opposite. But again it seems it is a bit like religion, "you have to believe"

;)
 
I always thought that this was a myth ..it's a favourite line from salesmen in music stores trying to sell you duff uke that's not up to scratch..;)
 
Just let it dry enough to crack and you have one opened up top ;)!
 
I've had one - just one - koa uke change tone and volume over time, and that's my oldest uke. It's been a change for the better and if that's so-called "opening up" then I'm of the opinion that *sometimes* it happens. My other koa ukes sound to me exactly as they did when I bought them, which is to say they sound great :)

I'm also very strongly of the opinion that if you don't fall in love with the sound of a uke right off the shelf - then you shouldn't buy it, especially under the weak pretense that it will "open up." I'm mostly experienced with Koaloha and Kamaka, and I've heard a few of each that didn't sound fantastic to me on first listen. They really are all a bit different and what matters is how it sounds and plays in the here and now.

I guess that makes me mostly a non-believer :)
 
Lillo said:
Every answer was awesome! :)
I guess it's a tough topic.

Recstar I had read already that Koaloha sound bright and opened from the beginning, while some like Kanile'a all the opposite. But again it seems it is a bit like religion, "you have to believe"

;)
Click to expand...

I would agree with that based on my own experience. I have a local store that carries kamaka and Kanilea, and occasionally people from my local uke clubs will bring a new kamaka or Kanilea (I'm one of an only few with koaloha around here). The kanileas brand new do sound "tight" as well as the new kamakas, like they sound somewhat subdued and mellow, that could just be my ears and preferring the koaloha sound. The leader for one of my groups is a kamaka dealer and has been playing the same kamaka soprano for many years, and I swear that thing projects all over the venue easily and you can hear it anywhere in the room, it's that opened up! Not an exact science for sure...

I know you asked about Koa but I hear similar effect with cedar vs spruce. I have one of each by same builder, and the spruce even after one year of solid playing is a tighter, less open sound, but the cedar has always projected very wide and open from day one.
 
Recstar24 said:
the new kamakas, like they sound somewhat subdued and mellow
Click to expand...

It's the stock black nylon strings. Despite my great love of Kamaka ukes, I cannot for the life of me understand why Kamaka favors those strings. I've seen a few posts on UU from people who like them, but not a single person I know IRL does. In fact, the store where I buy my ukes lets me change them to Martin fluoros to test-drive before I buy :)

So after writing that, hopefully without straying too off topic, I'll add my two-cents-worth that a string change can be an immediate here-and-now improvement rather than waiting for opening-up to happen.
 
I don't know how many more times I'm gonna read this shtick... it's the words of a snake oil salesman. If you cannot make a great sounding ukulele from the outset you really ought not to be inflicting those failures on the public. It will improve with time but as for 'opening up' - it ought to be wide open to start with! So let's say it al together now, "Ukulele are not guitars (repeated as nauseum)". You really have to get it together right off the bat - there is absolutely no wriggle room with them!
 
I was told by two awesome, experienced, and well known luthiers that my new Koa ukes would open up in time (with noticeable changes in 1-week, 1-month), and ear-witnessed that on both. True, they sounded good to begin with.
 
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I'm with Ken and Pete. Wood changes and so does tone over time but as for "opening up", it is my opinion that it's your ears that open up and learn to like and accept a tone that may have disappointed initially.
 
If someone were to tell me that the sound of wooden stringed instruments would change slightly over time after they're built, I could see that. Wood drying slightly here, changing its set slightly due to string tension. I can imagine mechanisms that would allow wood to change.
The problem I have is why does it only get better? If it changes, and luthiers put it together with the idea of sounding good when they deliver it, there should be the occasional item that gets worse.
 
TjW said:
The problem I have is why does it only get better? If it changes, and luthiers put it together with the idea of sounding good when they deliver it, there should be the occasional item that gets worse.
Click to expand...

That is my view on this topic also. Wood and other material changing and these changes impacting the sound to a possibly audible degree, that makes perfect sense to me. Noticeable changes shortly after construction is also an aspect that makes sense to me. But that the result will always be better, or even mostly be better, doesn't.

In these debates, people will sometimes point to vintage instruments as proof for the "sounding better" theory. I feel that a possible explanation for this observation is that the vintage instruments that didn't sound great to begin with and didn't "open up" favorably simply didn't survive long enough to become vintage instruments. Plus, I believe that 50, 70, or 90 years ago, even "mass market" instruments were built with more care than the shelf stuff we see today where so much is designed to last for a few years only so that the consumer has to (or will anyway) replace it.
 
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