Uke comparison with Thomastik-Infeld/Savarez Alliance on Cedar and Spruce top tenors

johnson430

johnson430

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A'la UU member Hodge. I am doing a uke comparison using the same stings but on different tops by different makers.
Just as the title says.
A cedar/rosewood and spruce/sapele tenor uke comparison.
Both strung with Thomastik-Infeld CF 27/30 and Savarez Alliance 541/542R.

I have not identified the ukes and will reveal which is which after a few days.
Try to guess which is which: Cedar or Spruce top.
Which one sounds better to you?

The spruce top maker should be obvious to anyone who knows me on the forum but I will keep the maker of the cedar top a mystery.

*Please do not listen to any of my other recordings on Soundcloud as it might sway your opinion of this comparison.

Sample 1 (a song I have been working on):
https://soundcloud.com/jasonbjohnson/santa-lucia-uke-comparison

Sample 2 Noodling:
https://soundcloud.com/jasonbjohnson/noodlingblues-riff
 
My UAS is growing for a Ceder/Rosewood Tenor. I was looking at the Ohana that looked beautiful. The Ceder topped Kala Baritone I played at the Uke Shop sounded lovely. I'm not a spruce fan but I have one, my most expensive but least liked.

#1 =Spruce
#2= Ceder

Right?
 
Thanks Johnson! Nice sound comparison. Both ukes sounded good. I preferred #1 on sample 1 and #2 on sample 2. Different ukes can excell on different songs/styles.

I agree with Jack.
I'll say #1 is the spruce, just because it sounded just a bit brighter in some rifts.
 
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Nice playing. Was a toss-up for me on Sample 1. But on Sample 2, I much preferred Ukulele #2. I think that it was the spruce-topped one.
 
Ukulele Eddie said:
Nice playing. Was a toss-up for me on Sample 1. But on Sample 2, I much preferred Ukulele #2. I think that it was the spruce-topped one.
Click to expand...
I'm with Eddie, Spruce on #2, on the 2nd song. Hard to tell on the first sample - sounded bit too bright for Spruce on the 2nd song.

Doc_J said:
Thanks Johnson! Nice sound comparison. Both ukes sounded good. I preferred #1 on sample 1 and #2 on sample 2. Different ukes can excell on different songs/styles.

I half to agree with Jack.
I'll say #1 is the spruce, just because it sounded just a bit brighter in some rifts.
Click to expand...

This is one of the reasons sound samples with different woods from different builders don't work well. Hodge would expect the Spruce to be brighter, and I would say the Spruce would be not as bright, and have more sustain and be harmonically richer, especially with the Savarez - but that would 100% be from my own experience.

Hodge, you have one of mine, maybe you can comment furter on whether my ear is swayed by my builds, caveat being the one you have is not a "normal" one either. In alignment with you, I would expect yours to be more on the punchy side than a full sized tenor, but that may have changed by now if you kept on playing it.
 
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Thanks for doing this. It's always interesting.

Nice playing!

I liked # 2 better, and I've convinced myself in the past that I prefer cedar, so for that very unscientific reason, I'm calling # 2 as cedar. (Which means that it's probaby spruce. LOL.)
 
Kekani said:
I'm with Eddie, Spruce on #2, on the 2nd song. Hard to tell on the first sample - sounded bit too bright for Spruce on the 2nd song.



This is one of the reasons sound samples with different woods from different builders don't work well. Hodge would expect the Spruce to be brighter, and I would say the Spruce would be not as bright, and have more sustain and be harmonically richer, especially with the Savarez - but that would 100% be from my own experience.

Hodge, you have one of mine, maybe you can comment furter on whether my ear is swayed by my builds, caveat being the one you have is not a "normal" one either. In alignment with you, I would expect yours to be more on the punchy side than a full sized tenor, but that may have changed by now if you kept on playing it.
Click to expand...

True. So much depends on the builder. Aaron, your spruce tenor is warm sounding, very nice. It was warm and rich sounding from day 1, with nice single note clarity. I've had cedar and spruce topped Ko'olau tenors; while both sounded great, the spruce was brighter sounding. Aaron, your spruce top is definitely warmer than that particular spruce topped Ko'olau. But, I also think that is by design.

The wood combinations here, the cedar with rosewood and spruce with mahogany, also color the distinction a little.

Here's a sound sample of 4 LFdM that contrast spruce, WR cedar, and Alaskan Yellow cedar. I hear the WR cedar as the warmest sounding.

https://vimeo.com/107806627
https://vimeo.com/107806625
 
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Nice playing Johnson, I was digging the blues noodling.

I am stumped, the more I listened the more unsure I became. I will go spruce on #1, cedar on #2.
 
Hey Jason, thanks for doing this exercise. First of all, nice playing! Secondly, I am surprised how nice and balanced that string combination sounds with the 2 wound low strings. When my first Pono arrived, it had two low wounds and it felt/played and sounded bad to me. I think the strings were probably old, and the wounds were way to thick for my personal taste. So, I kind of wrote that combination off entirely and gravitated to using all fluoro sets. But researching the topic here and now hearing your samples, I realize I should and want to try it on some of my ukes.

To my ears #1 is warmer and blends very well, so I would guess cedar top, #2 is a tad brighter and more focused so I would guess spruce. The only thing that gave me pause, was the natural (and pleasing) distortion on #2 during noodling part of second sound sample. This is the kind of thing I would associate with a cedar top. But as a whole, the information leaves me with the impression ~ #1-cedar, #2spruce.

I have been meaning to try this configuration, and you've given me the impetus go ahead and do it.

Thanks again for taking the time and energy to do this and share it!
 
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Joyful Uke said:
Thanks for doing this. It's always interesting.

Nice playing!

I liked # 2 better, and I've convinced myself in the past that I prefer cedar, so for that very unscientific reason, I'm calling # 2 as cedar. (Which means that it's probaby spruce. LOL.)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment. And I am glad you enjoyed the comparison.
I will not reveal which is which now but I will let you know that the cedar I was playing has the best fretboard I have ever played on. Ebony, 1.5. non-radius but doesn't need it. Almost feels like a mini-classical fretboard, flat- but in a good way, where you can hit notes very well. The neck has a low profile and the neck finish doesn't get sticky with hand sweat, which has happened to me when playing other ukes. I am quite impressed the this cedar/rosewood, TBH.
 
Kekani said:
This is one of the reasons sound samples with different woods from different builders don't work well. Hodge would expect the Spruce to be brighter, and I would say the Spruce would be not as bright, and have more sustain and be harmonically richer, especially with the Savarez - but that would 100% be from my own experience.

Hodge, you have one of mine, maybe you can comment furter on whether my ear is swayed by my builds, caveat being the one you have is not a "normal" one either. In alignment with you, I would expect yours to be more on the punchy side than a full sized tenor, but that may have changed by now if you kept on playing it.
Click to expand...

Aaron,
You bring up a good point about different builders. They are two very different constructions indeed. The spruce has a truss rod, traditional headstock, open geared tuners, bolt-on neck. And overall feels much heavier than the cedar.
The cedar is a super light build with a slotted headstock. no truss/no metal attaching the neck.

To take something positive from this comparison: It was nice to hear the TI and Savarez combo on two completely different ukes. But at about $15 a set(not including shipping), they aren't cheap.
 
Mezcalero said:
Hey Jason, thanks for doing this exercise. First of all, nice playing! Secondly, I am surprised how nice and balanced that string combination sounds with the 2 wound low strings. When my first Pono arrived, it had two low wounds and it felt/played and sounded bad to me. I think the strings were probably old, and the wounds were way to thick for my personal taste. So, I kind of wrote that combination off entirely and gravitated to using all fluoro sets. But researching the topic here and now hearing your samples, I realize I should and want to try it on some of my ukes.

To my ears #1 is warmer and blends very well, so I would guess cedar top, #2 is a tad brighter and more focused so I would guess spruce. The only thing that gave me pause, was the natural (and pleasing) distortion on #2 during noodling part of second sound sample. This is the kind of thing I would associate with a cedar top. But as a whole, the information leaves me with the impression ~ #1-cedar, #2spruce.

I have been meaning to try this configuration, and you've given me the impetus go ahead and do it.

Thanks again for taking the time and energy to do this and share it!
Click to expand...

You are welcome.
Glad you could get something out of this. Not only did I want to show how different woods can sound but I really wanted to see how the TI/Savarez combo worked on two different ukes, as well.
And thanks for the compliment on my playing.
I got the TI/Savarez suggestion from Chuck Moore of MB ukes.

Lastly, like you, I was turned off by wound C strings when I first started playing but now I would be hard-pressed to try anything but a wound C or G on a tenor uke. And I have found an all wound classical set set (savarez, i think) on StringsbyMail. That could be an interesting thing to try.
 
OK, I guess it is time to reveal the ukes:

#1 on both recordings is a Breedlove tenor spruce top/sapele back and sides, ebony fretboard.

#2 on both recordings is an Ace R65 tenor cedar top/rosewood back and sides, ebony fretbaord.

I will be doing a NUD on the Ace R65 soon.
Thanks everyone for listening and commenting.
 
johnson430 said:
OK, I guess it is time to reveal the ukes:

#1 on both recordings is a Breedlove tenor spruce top/sapele back and sides, ebony fretboard.

#2 on both recordings is an Ace R65 tenor cedar top/rosewood back and sides, ebony fretbaord.

I will be doing a NUD on the Ace R65 soon.
Thanks everyone for listening and commenting.
Click to expand...

Oh no I failed. No Prize for me....
 
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