I'mm sure this is beating a dead horse.. but..

Tudorp

Big guy with a lil' uke..
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I keep hearing "koa, Acacia, is awesome..." . Well, it is.. It is beautiful, and sounds wonderful. I have had several Acacia (still do), and even a Koa for the purists. But, I got to tell ya, and admit, I keep going back to my beloved Mahogany. I play my Acacias, and love em, but, again, just always seem to return back to Mahogany. I have always been a mahog lover, and still perfer it over any other tonewood when it comes to tone. It just seems to have the best mellow warm tones I love. Acacia/Koa is a close 2nd, but still, give me my Mahog.. I know Mahogany isn't well known for it's beauty, but I beg to differ there too. I have always had a love affair of the rich, redish brown color of mahog. Sure, I can see how someone could consider the grain figuring boring. But maybe that is also the charm for me. I think it is an absolutly beautiful wood.

I know there are allot of choices out there, especially these days, but between the Koa/Acacia and Mahogany, which do you prefer and why? I'm interested...
 
Mahogany all the way. Sophisticated beauty and has that distinguished sound I´m looking for. I really like my two Koa-Ukuleles (Koaloha and Bushman Koa) but I do not plan on buying another one. The next high-end one will definetely be a nice and classy mahogany beauty!
 
I don't prefer one over the other. Sometimes I want the sound of koa, sometimes I want the sound of mahogany, sometimes I want spruce...it all depends on my mood.

I will say that I do not pick up mahogany ukes first if I'm at a store. I'm drawn by interesting grain patterns, and most mahogany does not have that.
 
hmmm is there any pole on UU rating tonewoods? I'd be curious to know how others rate various woods on a few catagories like warmth, brightness , apearence, durability to weather change etc.
 
Seems I pretty much have nothing but koa right now.... But I do love Mahogany.
 
I have to agree with you on Mahogany. I love the lines in mahogany, and when you put a gloss lacquer on it, and you get the light hitting it, exposing the light and dark strands of that gorgeous wood, well, it just warms my heart. I have always loved spruce as a tone wood, but mahogany is right up there too. Definitely a sound all it's own. In fact, I am on a search for a solid all mahogany Harmony guitar for a good price.

Dan
 
Man I would love to have one of those classic Chris-Crafts... I had a buddy that had a restored one and he took me out on it years ago and I was in love..
 
hmmm is there any pole on UU rating tonewoods? I'd be curious to know how others rate various woods on a few catagories like warmth, brightness , apearence, durability to weather change etc.

Pippin posted a great wood breakdown recently.
 
I only have experience with the acarcia/Koa but have heard Maoghany and to be honest I think it's really a matter of preference, I love my KPK and play it a lot (especially at the moment because it's my only Uke at my Dad's) Maybe someone should do a poll on the preferred tonewoods? I know I'll be getting a English Yew Ukulele in October and that's a pretty sounding tonewood.

Sorry, I'm a bit muddled, on painkillers again!
 
Some of you may have already seen this article about "the tree." If you have not, you may find it interesting. Scroll down to check out the picture of the back of a guitar made from this quilted mahogany:

http://www.guitarbench.com/2009/10/07/the-tree-mahogany-feature-article/

I love the appearance on flamed and curly koa; I feel the same way that others have voiced that they do about mahogany, but this mahogany would probably get anyone's heart racing.
 
I have always love the look of a nicely finished piece of Quilted Maple. Of course me being a life long Gibson Les Paul guy, that should be of no supprise, but that is cosmetic bling for me. But I have also been pretty conservetive in my cosmetic tastes and love the elegance of simplicity, which is probably why I always loved Mahogany as my #1. Someone (I think it was here in the Luth area) showed some flame mahogany that was absolutly stunning... What I would give to have a chunk of that..
 
I would say I prefer Koa over Mahogany between the two. However, it may be that the koa ukes I've played are higher-end than the mahogany ukes I've played. I have koa ukes made by Glyph, Koa Works, William King, DaSilva, while the best mahogany uke I've owned is a Collings. So it's not quite a fair comparison. I think in the hands of a great luthier, any wood could sound great.
 
If I could only have one tone wood, it would be mahogany, but I love'em all.
 
If I could only have one tone wood, it would be mahogany, but I love'em all.

I guess in a nutshell, that is me too. I like many for different reasons. But if the government stepped in and only allowed every musician to have only one, mine would also be Mahog..
 
I guess in a nutshell, that is me too. I like many for different reasons. But if the government stepped in and only allowed every musician to have only one, mine would also be Mahog..

I would move to Canada.
 
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