Fun wood choices

Some of you have seen my morado top with the turtle soundhole but I thought I would post some pics of the neck blank for it as well as the top/neckblank for the concert I am working on at the same time. I am totally new at the uke thing- don't even play yet but decided that since it's a whimsical instrument by nature that having a little fun with wood choices was appropriate. I went to the local exotic lumber place and just played with wood for an hour or so until I found the pieces that just called out to be a uke. I think they will sound fine, maybe not a high end koa, but better than the local music stores birch ply ones.

The soprano will be morado all around with lace wood laminated up the middle of the neck. Not sure about the fingerboard yet- thought about doing a morado/lacewood just like the neck but still exploring that.
The concert will be lacewood all around with the neck middle laminate of purpleheart. The fingerboard, bindings and bridge will also be purpleheart.

Looking beautiful so far, thanks for the pics.

That's nice looking wood. I think almost any wood can give a nice tone. Maybe not "the traditional" tone but who says all ukes should sound the same anyway??

ksquine said:

That's nice looking wood. I think almost any wood can give a nice tone. Maybe not "the traditional" tone but who says all ukes should sound the same anyway??

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That's my thoughts. I believe you should use what you have available. Not to compare myself with the masters but Stratavari didn't go to the ends of the world to find wood, he went to the local source for spruce and maple, turns out that those woods were great and he was a master at using them. My guess, if he lived in south america at the time, he would have grab rosewood or something similar instead of maple and they would have sound awesome as well.
Each instrument should have personality to it's voice. Trying to make one sound just like another goes against the laws of nature and individuality. That's what makes custom builders instruments so great, they each sing in their own voice.
I'm hoping my uke's voice can carry a tune and not just make joyful noise

The wood isn't exotic if you live in Australia. Have heard and seen plenty of instruments made from it here. They sound just fine. It's what you do with the bracing that matters most.

A student from my first uke building class has made about 1/2 dozen ukes from various "lacewood" species that grow here. His latest with a Western Red Cedar top sounds amazing.

Hey rickmorgan, nice crack about "Stratavari"...

Good luck with building, what you've made so far looks nice. But do start playing yourself. It really helps a lot to know more about the type of instrument you're building.

Sven said:

Hey rickmorgan, nice crack about "Stratavari"...

Good luck with building, what you've made so far looks nice. But do start playing yourself. It really helps a lot to know more about the type of instrument you're building.

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I will Sven,
I played a guitar in my past and tinkered with a mandolin so not a stranger to it all. Haven't pickup up a stringed instrument since I lost my Left index finger- just can't do much with the guitar fingerboard without it (although I do play some limited guitar) but I picked up my daughters Uke and realized that with the nylon strings and small neck I could get around the fingerboard pretty well even with the stub of an index finger.

My first uke build was with the body entirely of Australian Sheoak. It turned out great and looks cool as well. Go for it! Different woods can work out great.
When I build mine I'd never heard of Sheoak. When complete I stopped by the shop of Jim Olson of Olson guitar fame (James Taylor plays Olson among others) and got a tour and showed my uke to him, turned out he had a Sheoak guitar in progress and was very familiar with it. Don't let anyone tell you that only certain woods are suitable for ukes.

Does Sheoak have any special tone properties? I have seen it used for carving and bowls. Very lacy and lots of interesting grain pattern. Kinda like quartersawn White Oak gone wild.

rickmorgan2003 said:

Stratavari didn't go to the ends of the world to find wood, he went to the local source for spruce and maple, turns out that those woods were great and he was a master at using them.

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Some theories about the wood he used attribute the sound quality more to luck than anything else. I read (somewhere…sorry I can’t provide a citation) that because he bought much less wood than the cabinet makers in town his shop had to wait until the high volume buyers had taken their pick. This meant that the logs he ended up with had spent more time in the water (they were floated into town) and were more prone to mold etc. The theory is that these molds altered the cell structure and, therefore, the tonal quality of the wood. Others (see this article http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090122141228.htm ) attribute the unique sound to chemicals he used as preservatives in the wood. There are probably as many theories about this as there are remaining Stradivarius violins. Who knows?

Sheoak for tonewood, just google it and you'll find lots of info.
Here are 2 links showing my uke. The 1st link contains pictures, the 2nd has a video of Spanky Guiterrez playing my Sheoak uke at the Windy City Uke Fest back in 2008.

http://strummn.blogspot.com/2008/07/uke-is-born.html
http://strummn.blogspot.com/2008/08/windy-city-uke-fest.html