Uke for Country and Southern Gospel?

Hi, y'all. After lurking on UU for a month, I've finally registered so I can ask questions and learn from y'all's wisdom ... and maybe give some back once I have a bit of my own. (It'll take a while, I'm sure!)

First question, therefore ... for someone with a nacent case of UAS ... I've played around with my soprano Flea and Brüko (and enjoy both for different sounds with different songs) ... and now am looking to save up for a tenor that I can string with a low G. I want to play around with something like that for Country music and Southern Gospel. (I'm an old rock guy who has migrated over to Americana.)

As a beginner who knows enough now to be fairly convinced I'll stick with it and I aim to get good enough for a bit of public gigging, my approach would be to buy a good quality in the medium price range, preferring solid wood — spending as much as I need to for a well-made instrument, but no more than I have to. i.e., I'm on a budget — a $1000 instrument is out — but I'd rather save up for something good than buy too cheap and too early.

It seems to me that Mainland Ukes fit that bill very nicely, and I like the personal touch and attention to detail that people seem to report about them. But maybe other people have other suggetions, too ... ?

I'm kind of wondering, also: what kind of wood goes best with a country sound? My Brüko has a lovely bright sound that I'm told is distinctive of the brand. The Flea is more mellow. I guess for my next instrument, I'd hope for something in between: something that'll support country twang, but have a nice well-rounded baritone to it, as well.

May I kindly ask for thoughts?

Look no further than the Mainland. A friend of mine plays exactly that type of music. If I was going to jam with him, I'd pick up my Mainland (he's using a Claus Mohri built taropatch uke, and a custom GString concert, and a Howlett tenor, or a 6 string hulabox cigar box uke...), but the Mainland has that homey earthy folk sound you want, and it competes with the bigger boys.

mmm ... earthy ... that's just the word I was looking for. Cool. What wood do you think I should be looking for?

I've got a mahogany concert scale with a matte finish, but that mango sure is pretty!

yeh ... that's sort of what I was thinking, too.

I love the Mainlands, as much for the people that make and sell them, as for their look and sound. That said you might also consider one of the solid spurce topped Kalas or Lanikais, if you want loud and proud.

It's a subjective thing isn't it? I've seen plenty of youtube vids of people who play roots and blues stuff with spruce top ukes, and it always sounds so strident to me, and not in a good way. It's the same way I felt about my Kala spruce/lacewood. I love the look of the spruce but not the sound. Not from what I've heard so far. But sometimes you just hear a sound and that's the one for you.

It's not the best gauge in the world, but if you have some decent headphones, use them at the computer and search around some of the ukes in your price range. It may happen that someone is playing one of them in the style you like. It's not a perfect demonstration, but it gives the closest we've got until more stores start carry more decent ukes.

There are lots of great uke sellers around. Musicguymic on Ebay, and Mainland, And Mim's Ukes, and Ukerepublic and so on and so on. There's a guy in Wales by the name of Pete Howlett who could either build for you or teach you to build yourself a uke that can do what you want.

I think it's the strident that I'm looking to avoid, or at least offset. Pete Howlett's stuff looks pretty impressive ... but out of my price range. (nice to know he's in Wales, though.) 'fraid I don't have enough time to spare to build my own, even with professional help.

that said, I wouldn't be averse to playing a few spruces, just to see.

Does red cedar do what spruce does without the strident? (and, yes, I take the point that it's subjective.) I think I've been leaning to mango, but that could yet change.

My $0.02 is this - first, folks are right, it's pretty hard to go wrong with a Mainland. It sounds kind of like you are looking for more of a "guitar" sound (low G and all) so the red cedar might do it for you. I love my mango, and probably wouldn't consider red cedar, let alone spruce, in anything smaller than a baritone, but that's just my preference - YMMV as they say.

A rough and probably over-simplified description of top woods, ranked from brightest to darkest, and all else being equal (which it almost never is) - spruce, red cedar, koa, mango, mahogany. Not a ton of difference between koa and mango and probably not a ton of difference between spruce and red cedar. Spruce and red cedar are both soft woods and are quite loud, but also rather bright for my tastes on a uke. I might try a red cedar bari some day but I doubt that I'll ever own a spruce uke. Some people love 'em though.

BTW, welcome to the forum and, whatever you decide, stick around!

John

Happy to stick around. Thank you.

I think my mango instinct is probably still intact. Although I don't want to pretend that the uke is just a little guitar — I know the purists will tell me there's a lot more to it than that, and they're right — I guess you've got a point about the "guitar" sound: there are some country songs that really need that low G to carry off what they're doing. (plonk strum strum; plonk strum strum ... you know, that kind of thing.) The Brüko is actually a damn fine instrument for certain types of country songs: it knows how to twang with the best of 'em. (And, actually, it's most excellent for Southern Gospel.) But I think what I'm going for here will tend more towards mellow than sharp.

Of course, I could just buy several. This is UAS we're talking about, after all! I do love that little chili-pepper plastic soprano that Mainland sell!

What I really wish, of course, is that I had a decent uke shop nearby where I could have a good ol' play with a bunch of different kinds.

And sometimes how they're built has more of an effect. My Kanile'a superconcert made of koa is the darkest thing I've ever heard in a uke. I can't help but think that if it was a tenor, it would be too dark. But that's just a guess. The Mainland is brighter, but it would be because Kanile'a has their own unique thing going on. I'd call the mahogany down to earth, mellow, but can absolutely twang. From what I've heard, I bet Mango is similar, just prettier.

In my above post I forgot to mention that Juha's Claus Mohri taropatch is I believe a spruce or cedar top. It's been a while since I've seen it. And again, build also effects what the tonewoods do because it's not stereotypically strident.

Always exceptions to the rules I guess.