Padauk for a Uke

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lauri girouard

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We were going through our tonewood inventory and ran across enough padauk for a soprano uke. How is that sound wise for a tonewood on a uke and how hard is it to bend? We had purchased this for use on one of our mandolins that was suppose to be a mando tribute to Jerry Garcias Tiger guitar. It was used in the neck and headstock as stringers.

This is the wood... we had known it by vermillion I believe that it and Padauk are one in the same

IMG_6319.jpg


Below are a few close ups of the stringers on the Garcia #1 mando.

283413_235246426514999_100000889299033_698566_5561314_n.jpg303071_258307064208935_100000889299033_772645_255061938_n.jpg312653_258306827542292_100000889299033_772641_2113317084_n.jpg317145_258306947542280_100000889299033_772643_1619119097_n.jpg
 
I think it would be great for sides and back with a spruce or cedar top. It would probably be a little much to build the whole uke out of it, much like making an entire ukulele out of rosewood. It bends OK.

Brad
 
Bradford said:
I think it would be great for sides and back with a spruce or cedar top. It would probably be a little much to build the whole uke out of it, much like making an entire ukulele out of rosewood. It bends OK.

Brad
Click to expand...
I would agree with Bradford, I have used it for many types of stum stick types and it sounds great. I would use a different top like Brad said. You will find that it has a grain that runs though it and you will either have to pore fill it or you will see the grain for sure. I love it but it is rough on the body and when sanding it. It hates me and I have a hard time after sanding. Post pics when done. I have thought it is under rated for a tone wood and would use it more if it didn't kill me to work with it.
 
The dust would pass for paprika.
 
It does look like paprika.

Thanks for the top advice. I thought it would sound richer and not so bright with a softer top too. How would you describe the difference in koa to padauk?

I have a nice uke sized piece of redwood that needs to become an instrument. That would at least hide the dust a bit.....I think carpathian or engelmann would be off this list for sure on this build.
 
I have the true vermillion or Andaman Padauk which is so unlike African that it needs to be in a diferent category. Although the dust is brick red, if you use is with spruce and seal the soundboard as soon as possible and before sanding, purflin and binding you have, as you would with any rosewood, no contamination problems. If the dust from sawing is orange then it is probably not Andaman but African. Andaman bends easily and leaves 'oil' on the iron like barazilian/indian rosewood. It is quite course so needs careful grain filling. The tenor uke I made in it is a killer and has held its colour well.
 
UkeforJC said:
Hi! Lauri,
That is a one nice looking mandolin.
How is your uke#1 coming?

JC
Click to expand...


Thanks JC. The uke #1 has been at a standstill over this week with all the mandolin builds we have going on. I hope to get the neck done sometime this weekend in my free time. I'll be sure to post pics.
 
Yeah, that will happen with that nasty African stuff which will also go a mucky brown in a few weeks....
 
Can't speak to padouk as a uke wood, but it makes a wonderful guitar. My playing-out mountain dulcimer was also all padouk (top and all) and I regret the day I sold it. I consider it in the same class as Indian rosewood. If exposed to light in the raw it turns brown, but I like that color. The problem is getting the same shade of brown all over. If lacquered soon after sanding it will stay red, but keeping it in its case is still recommended. It may also be susceptible to cross-grain checking that doesn't show up until you try to bend it. Inspect the wood very carefully. I enjoy the aroma of working with it, but it will turn the mucus in your nose a startling color. I like padouk a lot. It also comes in a salmon pink, which I liked. You may likely find that not many buyers enjoy a red or pink instrument. Perhaps uke buyers are more open-minded than guitar people.
 
Ukes players and buyers are very open minded when it comes to different woods and designs, at least that has been my experience.
 
apropos of Chuck's remark:

When my former partner, Barry, first took one of our early walnut tenors into Gryphon Stringed Instruments, Frank Ford kind of huffed and said, "Real ukes are made of koa", whereupon Barry went over to one of the many Flukes and Fleas on the wall, turned it over, and asked, "Where can we get koa like this?" Now, of course, Gryphon sells more of our non-koa ukes than koa by a wide margin, and the last time I was there I was told that we always supply them with great looking timbers.
 
Keeping it Hawaiian and traditional is on my mind but so is using what I have available. Maple, spruce and birch all grow here in abundance. From talking to the locals here in New England, they would love to have our native woods over something that doesn't need to be shipped from 1000's of miles away. If you can get superior sound out of it, that is what matters to me. We had a few walnut mandos come out of our shop and I had a hard time letting go of them because of how they sounded.

I had a local guy over yesterday and he owns a tree service here in town. He was telling me about some locust trees that grow here in NH and may be bringing me over some from a tree he took down a while ago. Very hard wood and I have no idea what it will be like for tone wood. I am willing to give it a shot if it meets my criteria.
 
I like Padauk but it is hard for me to work with. If I take my dust mask off for a minute I'll be congested for three days. I like it as a soundboard. I think it sounds very nice and it looks terrific. I used it for the top on this semi-hollow archtop.

tailpiece.jpg

I also used it as the back on another semi-hollow. Carving this one out was tough and took a long time, but this one has great tone and surprising volume. The soundboard is Maple.

F1_03.jpg


I've never tried bending it.

Dave Iriguchi
 
If I am correct Rick is building ukes for guitarists so the marketing strategy is different eh Rick?
 
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