Patchenu
Well-known member
By now I hope the ukulele community has had a chance to listen to the recordings HMS did of the Luthiers For A Cause instruments on Vimeo (Thank you Andrew Kitakis) . https://vimeo.com/theukulelesite/videos
I know when I first started down my ukulele journey I saw a lot of discussion around what's important when selecting a ukulele. I saw lots of discussion around wood and wood choices were really important and I saw lots of discussion around pick a luthier that you like and work with them. One of the reasons this project excited me is that we (the ukulele community) can finally get some answers around what role does the luthier play in the ultimate sound of an instrument vs the wood. I wanted to share my thoughts as I was one of the few people who had the chance to play and hear all of the instruments live and I wanted to share my thoughts on this thread. I hope others will join in and share their thoughts.
A bit of background on me and my preferences when it comes to ukuleles.
People have different opinions of what matters in a ukulele but for me it would be: 1. sound, 2. looks, 3. feel and 4. Longevity. I feel this way because first and foremost, this is an instrument and meant to be played and the sound is critical to an instrument. I put looks ahead of feel as I am a combination of collector and player so I want interesting/good looking instruments and I am not such a good player that the feel will stop me from playing. As long as the action is right, I can play different necks, different finishes, etc and adjust to the instrument. Longevity, one of the key decisions a luthier needs make is the trade-off between sound and longevity. I prefer a luthier to build with both in-mind but slightly skewing towards the sound.
Thoughts on the instruments
First, this isn’t and was never was a competition about which one is best. As everyone has a different sound that they like, there isn’t a subjective “best”. I know that when I started my uke journey I was looking for the “best” but quickly found out that I liked certain types of sound better than others but everyone has a preference and everyone is right.
Insight 1: I was surprised by how similar they sounded. In hindsight, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised given the level of the luthiers but I thought that the difference in sound would be a lot more apparent. It took listening to many people playing the instruments a number of times to really hear the difference and determine which one(s) spoke to me.
Insight 2: I was surprised by the weight difference. I have always heard that you need to have a light instrument to have great sound. The reason given was that the extra weight will impact the sustain, resonance and volume that the instrument is capable of. The Joji ukulele was the lightest of the group while the Beau was the heaviest and the weight difference was big. Both ukes have great resonance and sustain so the weight argument is maybe a good starting rule of thumb but a luthier can get great sound, sustain, resonance and volume even if their build is not light if they are good.
Insight 3: The style of play matters a lot. I had determined about a year ago in that different luthiers build for a specific sound and that the sound they aim for, usually is better for a specific style of music. While some instruments can be great at many different styles, so far, I haven’t heard one ukulele that is perfect for all styles of music. (Hawaiian vs Jazz vs Bluegrass vs Classical, etc) What I didn’t think about is how much the playing style of the music comes into play on top of the style of music. I could really hear the difference when I heard the different playing styles.
Conclusion
They are all great instruments and they all sound great. They all had a unique look and feel and had a character all to themselves. The sound differences were subtle but you can hear them. Some were a bit brighter up the neck, some had a more even tone across the strings, some had a richer tone and some came to life when you moved into the 9th frets and beyond. In the end, I have come away with the fact that the luthier has a the ultimate role in the sound of an instrument and they are more important than all other factors. I am curious what did you hear and what did you take away?
One last thing….We looked at a few ways to sell the instruments and we even looked at doing a lottery. When we investigated the lottery, it turned out it was illegal in many states and we didn’t want to do anything to tarnish the reputations of those involved so we gave up on the lottery idea. We also intended to put the instruments on auction. I was hoping to acquire one or two myself but in the end, the opportunity to raise a lot of money for the Ukulele Kids Club and keep the instruments together presented itself and that was too great to pass up.
Sorry for the long post.
I know when I first started down my ukulele journey I saw a lot of discussion around what's important when selecting a ukulele. I saw lots of discussion around wood and wood choices were really important and I saw lots of discussion around pick a luthier that you like and work with them. One of the reasons this project excited me is that we (the ukulele community) can finally get some answers around what role does the luthier play in the ultimate sound of an instrument vs the wood. I wanted to share my thoughts as I was one of the few people who had the chance to play and hear all of the instruments live and I wanted to share my thoughts on this thread. I hope others will join in and share their thoughts.
A bit of background on me and my preferences when it comes to ukuleles.
People have different opinions of what matters in a ukulele but for me it would be: 1. sound, 2. looks, 3. feel and 4. Longevity. I feel this way because first and foremost, this is an instrument and meant to be played and the sound is critical to an instrument. I put looks ahead of feel as I am a combination of collector and player so I want interesting/good looking instruments and I am not such a good player that the feel will stop me from playing. As long as the action is right, I can play different necks, different finishes, etc and adjust to the instrument. Longevity, one of the key decisions a luthier needs make is the trade-off between sound and longevity. I prefer a luthier to build with both in-mind but slightly skewing towards the sound.
Thoughts on the instruments
First, this isn’t and was never was a competition about which one is best. As everyone has a different sound that they like, there isn’t a subjective “best”. I know that when I started my uke journey I was looking for the “best” but quickly found out that I liked certain types of sound better than others but everyone has a preference and everyone is right.
Insight 1: I was surprised by how similar they sounded. In hindsight, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised given the level of the luthiers but I thought that the difference in sound would be a lot more apparent. It took listening to many people playing the instruments a number of times to really hear the difference and determine which one(s) spoke to me.
Insight 2: I was surprised by the weight difference. I have always heard that you need to have a light instrument to have great sound. The reason given was that the extra weight will impact the sustain, resonance and volume that the instrument is capable of. The Joji ukulele was the lightest of the group while the Beau was the heaviest and the weight difference was big. Both ukes have great resonance and sustain so the weight argument is maybe a good starting rule of thumb but a luthier can get great sound, sustain, resonance and volume even if their build is not light if they are good.
Insight 3: The style of play matters a lot. I had determined about a year ago in that different luthiers build for a specific sound and that the sound they aim for, usually is better for a specific style of music. While some instruments can be great at many different styles, so far, I haven’t heard one ukulele that is perfect for all styles of music. (Hawaiian vs Jazz vs Bluegrass vs Classical, etc) What I didn’t think about is how much the playing style of the music comes into play on top of the style of music. I could really hear the difference when I heard the different playing styles.
Conclusion
They are all great instruments and they all sound great. They all had a unique look and feel and had a character all to themselves. The sound differences were subtle but you can hear them. Some were a bit brighter up the neck, some had a more even tone across the strings, some had a richer tone and some came to life when you moved into the 9th frets and beyond. In the end, I have come away with the fact that the luthier has a the ultimate role in the sound of an instrument and they are more important than all other factors. I am curious what did you hear and what did you take away?
One last thing….We looked at a few ways to sell the instruments and we even looked at doing a lottery. When we investigated the lottery, it turned out it was illegal in many states and we didn’t want to do anything to tarnish the reputations of those involved so we gave up on the lottery idea. We also intended to put the instruments on auction. I was hoping to acquire one or two myself but in the end, the opportunity to raise a lot of money for the Ukulele Kids Club and keep the instruments together presented itself and that was too great to pass up.
Sorry for the long post.