Beautiful Tone Woods

Jhud

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When it comes to ukulele’s I have to admit to being a Tone Wood junkie.
Ever since I can remember I have had a “thing” about wood; the feel, texture, smell , look, and when it comes to musical instruments the sound of it also.

My main priority will always be the playing side of things but I suspect I’m not alone in admitting that pride of ownership ,in other words what this lovely little wooden box looks like is almost as important to me .

My four main Uke’s are built using quite a selection of beautiful Tone Woods : Ebony, Cedar , Mahogany, Padauk, Ovangkol, Mango and of course Koa. That’s just a small number compared with the literally scores of other types of woods that can be used in the building of a musical instrument like a Ukulele.
It never ceases to amaze me how with just a bit of effort the competent wood worker can produce a finished article with such stunning grain patterns , figuring, quilting, colour, and even curling and flaming effects.

For many years Hawaiian Koa , a type of Acacia has been the number one choice for many builders of quality Uke’s but just lately it appears that Mango wood is becoming more popular and is being used more and more by both custom builders and some of the large scale manufacturers.
My most recently purchased Uke is a Rebel Double Creme super concert in solid Mango and I absolutely adore it . In both sounds and looks it is a wonderful little thing , worth every penny of it’s not insubstantial list price, in my opinion of course.

I would be very interested to hear the views of some other members here especially those of you who have either got a Mango Uke or are thinking of getting one in the future.
Thanks.
Jon.
 

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The apple of my eye is this plane tree uke that I bespoke. Aside from being beautiful it is more redolent than instruments made from more established companies. 42235715_1870024039754585_6308754487590780928_o.jpg
 
Mango is cheaper and more readily available than Koa. I would dearly love a Koaloha Mango Super Concert but unfortunately they don't make one! I wonder if they will do a Mango Red Label one day.

My Pono Mango Pineapple is such a lovely softly spoken ukulele that refuses to shout regardless of how hard I strum. A mango Mya-Moe is possibly on the distant horizon for me unless a used one crops up first. It's very different to Koa but a uniquely special ukulele tonewood in my view.
 
Mango is cheaper and more readily available than Koa. I would dearly love a Koaloha Mango Super Concert but unfortunately they don't make one! I wonder if they will do a Mango Red Label one day.

My Pono Mango Pineapple is such a lovely softly spoken ukulele that refuses to shout regardless of how hard I strum. A mango Mya-Moe is possibly on the distant horizon for me unless a used one crops up first. It's very different to Koa but a uniquely special ukulele tonewood in my view.

There’s a stunning Chocalate Heart Mango Mya-Moe soprano on eBay right now. It ain’t cheap, but it sure is purdy.
 
There’s a stunning Chocalate Heart Mango Mya-Moe soprano on eBay right now. It ain’t cheap, but it sure is purdy.

You're absolutely right. And it's the little details that make it superb. Like the way the dark grain lines on the back line up perfectly with the edges of the dark heel cap. I guarantee that wasn't an accident of serendipity.
 
My wife’s Rebel Double Creme is much prettier to look at, and much warmer in tone, than my Double Cheesecake. And if she isn’t using hers daily, I’ll pick it up over my Cheesecake! Love the tone of the mango wood.
 
Of course, it's up to the builder to unlock the best potential tone from any particular wood. Some builder's styles work better with certain woods than others.

I have had one mango uke (I'iwi) that I quite liked and would say that I've heard quite a few that sounded great to me. I love the Romero Creations "Replica" in all spalted mango. Looks and sounds great to me, especially for the price point.

While I sometimes find it really attractive, koa very rarely compels me when it comes to tone. The only luthier from whom I've played multiple all koa ukes that I would have loved to own is Little River Ukes. I've played 4-5 and each had me wanting to own it. Dave's build style and koa really work for me.

I currently have two ziricote body ukes that I absolutely love. Very dramatic figuring. One has a redwood top and one has a torrefied spruce top. Both have spectacular tone.

I'm also a big fan for maple back/sides as it can be quite beautiful visually. I have had quite a few spectacular maple ukes from a variety of builders.

My current woods include (grouped by top type):

- Lucky 12 spruce/The Tree
- spruce/California sycamore
- torrefied spruce/ziricote
- European spruce/Quilted maple
- Adirondack spruce/Madagascar rosewood
- Adirondack spruce/BRW

- redwood/ziricote
- sinker redwood/Amazon rosewood
- Lucky Strike redwood/BRW

- all mahogany
- all koa

- all eKoa ;-)
 
I had a custom tenor uke made by Bruce Wei Arts in Vietnam a couple years ago made of spalted and curly mango, very unique in that it has small sound holes all the way around the bouts and large one in the cutaway. I think it sounds great and I love the look.

Spalted done montage.jpg



This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
All the ukes posted above are gorgeous. Michael, yours is particularly striking. Getting back to the original post, could someone tell me what exactly is a Tone Wood?
 
All the ukes posted above are gorgeous. Michael, yours is particularly striking. Getting back to the original post, could someone tell me what exactly is a Tone Wood?


What is a Tone Wood or Tonewood ? whichever way you want to spell it is a very good question which is not so easy to define - not for me anyway.
The best, ie , simplest definition I could find is this : “ A tone wood refers to specific wood varieties that possess tonal properties that make them good choices for use in woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments “

Usually the tonal properties referred to range from “warm”at one end of the tonal spectrum to “bright” at the other.
 
All the ukes posted above are gorgeous. Michael, yours is particularly striking. Getting back to the original post, could someone tell me what exactly is a Tone Wood?

A Luthier or more knowledgeable person can correct me if I get any of this incorrect, but my understanding is that the back and sides of the instrument are often referred to as the tonewood. This is because it’s responsible for many of the finer, more nuanced aspects of an instruments overall tone. However, the soundboard, or front/top of the instrument, will dictate the overarching characteristics of tone, warmth, and volume.

That said, I believe they can all technically be considered tonewoods.
 
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