Are older, well used ukuleles better?

cyber3d

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I recently watched a documentary on Elderly Instruments and in one of the interviews with their technician/craftsman he talked about how an acoustic stringed instrument sounds better as it gets older and played a lot. Wood ages and playing affects the wood and joints etc... making it a more desirable instrument. What do you think? Are you more likely to get a finer instrument if you find a well used ukulele?
 
The only "older" instruments that sound "better" are those that sounded "better" when they were new. The instruments that were never that good just didn't last ... were given to charity shops or for the kids to play with.

YMMV ;)
 
Not in the way that I think you mean.
An instrument that has been played has settled in to where it is going to be for the rest of its life.
A new instrument goes through a settling in period, be it wood or laminate, just the same as strings do.
Once its done that, that is the best it is going to be.
 
I have pondered this as my playing time has passe. A Uke that I didn't think sounded all that great when I got it, now is one I appreciate more and more each day. I think it's because I learned how to make it sound better by playing it more, or I got used to it's 'voice'.

As for Willi's Trigger, it has been repaired a good deal by a master luthier over the years and was a great instrument when new. Also Willy is a pretty good guitar picker!
 
I have found that some ukes "grow" on me, and some don't. Does it sound better because it has aged or because I was able to detect subtle nuances in tone that weren't immediately apparent? I believe that with a "quality" instrument, there must be subtle changes with additional curing of bracing and tonewoods as it "settles in" so to speak. Just my thoughts on the matter. Lots of folks here far more experienced on the subject than I.
 
Yes and no. The "good" ones tend to get played , so an old uke with no play wear is suspect. The wood has settled in so any warping/cracking will have sorted itself out. The older builders had some really nice wood to work with, hard to go wrong with an old Martin or Favilla.
 
"Other well know players keep the same guitar for a few years so you can follow its sound via recordings and videos".

When judging the sound of an instrument, I would be wary of any conclusions which are based on recordings. You are not hearing the true sound, but an electronic representation of that sound. Such representations will vary depending on the circumstances in which they were made, who made them, what equipment was used, and a host of other variables. A good instrument can be made to sound bad and vice versa.

All comparisons are fraught with difficulty, unless you are listening (live and unamplified) to the same player, standing in the same place, in the same room.

As regards "playing in". I find that a newly built uke will change quite noticeable over the first few days after the strings are first fitted, but after this fairly short settling period, it is hard to detect any more improvement.
 
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What sounds better is subjective. Also, I think that there are a lot of factors that affect the sound of instrument. I think that Willie makes Trigger sound good, not the other way around. I mean, big holes worn into the soundboard of an instrument probably doesn't make the instrument sound "better."
 
I think sometimes an instrument changes.
And I think sometimes your ears change.
And I think sometimes you start to prefer what you're used to as your base line standard.

People often say "I know what I like" when what they really mean is "I like what I know".

Also an instrument doesn't always get better as it ages. Sometimes it gets worse.

Jake is an interesting example to think about... he changes his instrument fairly often, to a new one of the same model. It's not like the retired ones are falling apart, and every once in a while, you'll see one of his used ones go up for sale. I dunno if it was a donation situation or how it got into the wild, but I thought I saw one of his retired instruments up for auction at some point. (not his player model, one he actually toured with)

The way I see it... judge an instrument for what it is right now.
There's no way to really know if it will get better, or worse.
 
It depends on the specific instrument and who you're asking.
 
Theres tonerite.

It's a mechanical... gizmo for guitar.
You hook it up, and it vibrates the guitar/strings constantly for some period of time.
It's supposed to force things to open up.



skip to 4:33 for sound samples of before/after.

it does seem to sound different. But.. how much of that is because strings settling vs instrument settling... I dunno.
 
I recently watched a documentary on Elderly Instruments and in one of the interviews with their technician/craftsman he talked about how an acoustic stringed instrument sounds better as it gets older and played a lot. Wood ages and playing affects the wood and joints etc... making it a more desirable instrument. What do you think? Are you more likely to get a finer instrument if you find a well used ukulele?

Our impressions are often colored by knowledge. But I agree with @kypfer, an instrument's potential is its potential. Mediocre instruments don't become "oh wow" due to age. Here is an interesting read:

https://www.thestrad.com/blind-test...s-violins-from-modern-instruments/994.article
 
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My 1940's Silvertone in its day was likely comparable to today's entry price point all solid Kala or Ohana.

But, 70 years on, it is light as a feather, which it probably was not when bought off the shelf at Sears.

I agree with Bill1's post above - "it has to be played a lot to keep it alive." When I first uncase it after not playing it for a while, it sounds kind of crappy and I think about selling it. But, the more I play it, the better it sounds, until it has a resonance. It then has its own voice like the Opio or the Brueko. Have I just relearned how to get the best effect from the Silvertone? Perhaps, but I do think it needs to come back to life. And the fact that it has had so many years to dry out has also helped.
 
The Blackbird Clara came to mind, and I thought it was worth mentioning in the thread. I have heard and played a number of exceptional instruments, and I would put the Clara with all of them, and they are basically brand new. That may be an extreme example, but it goes to show that you don’t need age or wood to have a good sounding ukulele.
 
Most pro musicians that I know favour, well played older finely made instruments. However it is difficult to know the history of a 2nd hand instrument. Some old instruments that I've seen have required major TLC to return them to a playable state. Even for major production brands there have been periods in their history where market forces have seen corners being cut so generalities like brand should not overly influence your purchase decision. We are dealing with objects that are crafted from living materials and every example will be unique. IMO, you can only know if you have a good one by playing it.
 
My personal opinion is that newer ukuleles are better made to closer tolerances and luthiers of high end ukuleles are probably better craftsmen than their vintage counterparts.

That said, I also feel that the wood being used today is not as high a quality as the wood available 50+ years ago. Preferred tone woods have depleted available resources and has driven more species onto the CITES list. But this has also opened up innovation in employing non-traditional ukulele tonewoods.

My vote still lies with newer builds as a preferred way to go over a well played vintage uke. Not to say that there are not special vintage ukes.

John
 
We are dealing with objects that are crafted from living materials and every example will be unique. IMO, you can only know if you have a good one by playing it.

That's a very good point.

Say martin makes 500 of a model every year for 50 years. Some of them will be meh, and a few will be exceptional. Someone lucks into that exceptional one and plays the crap out of it because its great. Then they die, and it comes up for sale. The guy that buys it, is like... wow... why is this so great? it's better than anything I can get today.

But then... some of those will also be duds... and nobody will talk about them, so they get forgotten to history, and someone will get a new one and be like.. this is better than those old ones.. because tech/shiny/etc

There's a kamaka documentary... and one of the guys interviewed says something like... and this ukulele is special.. and will never leave the island. There's variance, and some great ukes were made. But.. there were also some... less great. Always has been, always will be.
 
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