Favorite tonewood?

Which wood is your favorite?

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StereoJoker

StereoJoker

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I know a lot of you use different ukuleles for different songs or different styles of playing, and that these differences include both scale sizes and wood types.

Now, I personally love mahogany (and not just for the uke!) -- I love the color, the smell, the grain, and the warm, mellow tone. Heck, I even love the word "mahogany" itself. Even though koa wood is fantastic and I easily drool over any well-made solid koa uke, if I had to choose between two identical solid-wood soprano models with different wood -- koa or mahogany -- I would probably take the 'hog.

Out of curiosity, which tonewood is your favorite? Or, more accurately, which type of wood gives you the sound you like best from a ukulele? (Combinations are excluded from the poll, but can be lumped under the "Other" category, for convenience's sake, I guess.)
 
I still love Mahog the most, but finding lots of new interesting woods on uke's so who knows.

I not a fan on the dark colour of mahogany though, but sound wise I love it.
 
For pure sound, Koa is my favorite, but Acacia sounds almost as good to me. I like Spruce or Cedar on a sound board, but there is a reason so much rosewood is used on bodies by luthiers! My all around favorite has to be highly figured Myrtle though, think Koa...only chocolaty!
 
My main ukulele is all mahogany
My main steel string guitar is Mahogany Sitka
My classical guitar is EIR Englemann

I don't know if favorite tonewood is even a fair question but I sure looooove the sound of my mahogany uke. :D:D:D
 
Ukeffect said:
My all around favorite has to be highly figured Myrtle though, think Koa...only chocolaty!
Click to expand...

I completely forgot about myrtle! Probably because it's one of those pricier woods. But yeah, that's a nice sound, too.

SailQwest said:
Of the ones listed, I would choose mahogany. But my favorite tonewood is spruce.
Click to expand...

I figured spruce and cedar would be pretty choice with folks too, but I was trying to limit the woods to the types I had seen used for the body all-round (top, back and sides).

If we could put >10 options in the polls, they'd be on there for sure. :p

I just checked out Mya-Moe Ukuleles (I've been too lazy to look at them myself for a while), and they have purpleheart ukes! I didn't even know about purpleheart, much less that it could be used as a tonewood. Pretty neat.
 
My favorite tonewood would have to be macassar ebony. Macassar ebony pretty much has to be combined a softwood such as spruce, and that's my favorite combo. I think a lot of wood spiecies can be made into great sounding instruments, but I just love the looks of a good macassar ebony uke.

This is what I'm talking about:

DSC_1513.JPG
 
I chose mahogany, but I am starting to warm up to koa.

I have only had the opportunity to play: cherry (LoPrinzi); mahogany (Ohana & Martin); koa (Koaloha),; spruce (Kala); cedar (Mainland); zebrawood (Ohana); and, hoop pine (Flea), so I can't give and opinion on the other woods.
 
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I guess having access to a load of various tonewoods I should have a clear choice. It's like what mood I'm in. Something brite, something warm, something loud, something quiet , something really balanced, something rich or is it the look of the tonewood? Maybe because it seems to be less common, I've been enjoying the cherry for a truly unique sound and the figured cherry for it's beauty.All of em' have something to offer because if they didn't we wouldn't all have UAS.I still love mahogany,koa,zebrawood,mango,maple,acacia,nato,walnut and other a lot! I love combo woods too.How can we choose? It's like who do you love more, mom or dad?
 
Pretty tough to choose. I have had a few different ukes made from different woods. My favorite uke hands down is my Moore Bettah and it is koa. But I find it hard to really compare a Moore Bettah koa uke to a sprucetop Kala or an acacia KPK or any other combo from a import ukulele. Due to the obvious differences in craftsmanship and attiention to detail I really cannot compare tonewoods specifically since I have not had a set of the same ukulele that are made from different woods. Really to many variables.

But I will choose koa because of my Moore Bettah.
 
koa no ka 'oi
 
This is an old thread...if it listed today's uke, I bet spruce would be the favorite of some.
 
I love mango and walnut.

mahogany is a great wood too and the safest of safe bets.
 
For many folks, if it is isn't koa, it isn't a ukulele.
 
Uke Republic said:
I guess having access to a load of various tonewoods I should have a clear choice. It's like what mood I'm in. Something brite, something warm, something loud, something quiet , something really balanced, something rich or is it the look of the tonewood? Maybe because it seems to be less common, I've been enjoying the cherry for a truly unique sound and the figured cherry for it's beauty.All of em' have something to offer because if they didn't we wouldn't all have UAS.I still love mahogany,koa,zebrawood,mango,maple,acacia,nato,walnut and other a lot! I love combo woods too.How can we choose? It's like who do you love more, mom or dad?
Click to expand...

Mom.

As for tonewoods, I love my spruce top Martin guitar. But for ukes I like the warmer sound of mahogany. That's probably due to the fact that I play mostly pop, blues or jazz. For more traditional Hawaiian music, I have to admit that koa sounds more authentic. That's just not the kind of stuff I play.

DSFDF.
 
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