Most sympathetic top wood for zebrawood uke?

H

Hippie Dribble

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hi everyone. don't mean to bust in on this board as I have zero knowledge to share, but I do have a question I hope you can help me with...

I'm having a tenor uke built with zebrawood back and sides. My question is: what top wood do you suggest that would work the best tonally. My understanding is that zebrawood is on the 'bright' side...

Cedar? Spruce? Something left field? What about the possibility of using zebrawood for the top as well?

Thanks guys for any assistance you can give here.
 
eugene ukulele said:
hi everyone. don't mean to bust in on this board as I have zero knowledge to share, but I do have a question I hope you can help me with...

I'm having a tenor uke built with zebrawood back and sides. My question is: what top wood do you suggest that would work the best tonally. My understanding is that zebrawood is on the 'bright' side...

Cedar? Spruce? Something left field? What about the possibility of using zebrawood for the top as well?

Thanks guys for any assistance you can give here.
Click to expand...


G'day Mate!

Redwood/Sinker Redwood sounds great ... but, it probably would clash with Zebra wood aesthetically.
 
This is a question best suited for your builder. That's what you're paying him for. His experience with the way he works with the woods you mentioned will give you your best answer.

BTW, if one of my customers were asking me the same question using koa as the back and sides, I would suggest that spruce is brighter than cedar, which is known for a warmer tone. Both will give you very good volume. But I'm no expert, I've only used these woods one a couple of dozen ukes.
 
It depends on the sound you want. If you want a brighter sound I would go with Spruce But if your after a little warmer sound defiantly cedar and I think redwood would be a little warmer then the cedar
Thats just my:2cents: Good luck on the new one
 
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cnkguitarsandukes said:
G'day Mate!

Redwood/Sinker Redwood sounds great ... but, it probably would clash with Zebra wood aesthetically.
Click to expand...

hi Kimo, thanks for the redwood suggestion mate.

Honestly, I hadn't thought a great deal on the aesthetics of the combo, I'll ponder this further. Mind you I do have floral orange and green curtains in the house so colour combos clearly aren't a specialty of mine :eek:
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
This is a question best suited for your builder. That's what you're paying him for. His experience with the way he works with the woods you mentioned will give you your best answer.

BTW, if one of my customers were asking me the same question using koa as the back and sides, I would suggest that spruce is brighter than cedar, which is known for a warmer tone. Both will give you very good volume. But I'm no expert, I've only used these woods one a couple of dozen ukes.
Click to expand...

hi Chuck,

I appreciate you chiming in here mate.

In truth, I am talking of this with my builder. he also suggested spruce or cedar. My rationale behind putting this question up here is just based on the idea that, when ignorant, you can never have too many ideas to help in the decision making process, especially here, where you guys have such a wide and deep understanding of build outcomes and a rich well of shared experiences to draw upon.

Thanks again mate
 
bluesuke said:
It depends on the sound you want. If you want a brighter sound I would go with Spruce But if your after a little warmer sound defiantly cedar and I think redwood would be a little warmer then the cedar
Thats just my:2cents: Good luck on the new one
Click to expand...

Hi Perry

very much appreciate the advice brother.

Guess I am thinking of something that will warm it up a bit. What of all-zebrawood as an option do you think? Would that tend to have a similar tonal quality as using spruce on top?
 
eugene ukulele said:
Hi Perry

very much appreciate the advice brother.

Guess I am thinking of something that will warm it up a bit. What of all-zebrawood as an option do you think? Would that tend to have a similar tonal quality as using spruce on top?
Click to expand...


I don't think you will get as balanced sound out of a all zebra but I have never used it for a sound board . It all depends on how its built .
 
eugene ukulele said:
hi Chuck,

I appreciate you chiming in here mate.

In truth, I am talking of this with my builder. he also suggested spruce or cedar. My rationale behind putting this question up here is just based on the idea that, when ignorant, you can never have too many ideas to help in the decision making process, especially here, where you guys have such a wide and deep understanding of build outcomes and a rich well of shared experiences to draw upon.

Thanks again mate
Click to expand...

Why I suggested that you trust your builder is that he/she will know the limitations of what he can do with a given species of wood. I had to build a hundred koa ukes before I was able to begin to understand the wood.
For instance, I know what a redwood top sounds like on a koa body,but I've got no (well, very limited) building experience with that combination. If I were asked to use a redwood soundboard on a build I'd only be guessing as to what thickness and how to brace it, how it's going to sound considering my building techniques, finishes, etc. Unless you have experience with the wood you're working with, you're flying in the dark. Hopefully your builder has the experience to guide you wisely.
Good luck and beware of the fruit bats!
 
You can get a nice mellow warm sound with spruce if you know how to do it. Cedar is easier to work with in this regard, but I think I would like the looks of spruce with Zebra wood more than cedar. Just some thoughts.
 
I appreciate the luthiers being very cordial and giving you advise as if they spend time on UU, they know who your ordering from. Jon, why don't you order something way out there to test the luthier's skills and chime in a few months. We know that you have owned more ukes than most of us have played so I would trust your opinion.
 
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nongdam said:
I appreciate the luthiers being very cordial and giving you advise as if they spend time on UU, they know who your ordering from. Jon, why don't you order something way out there to test the luthier's skills and chime in a few months. We know that you have owned more ukes than most of us has owned so I would trust your opinion.
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good point Daniel. This is kinda where I'm coming from with this anyway mate, and you picked up on it. I'm ordering it from our friend Willie and, given the accessibility of the price, I do want to go for something very different, almost as an experiment.

I have a history of this...with Gordon at mya moe...I ordered the first all sycamore uke they built, and the first all maple uke as well. Both turned out great but of course I put it down to a luthier who knew exactly what he was doing to achieve the best possible outcome in terms of sound. Interesting that now, sycamore is starting to be used in lots of MM builds because it has such a sweet, bright and responsive tone. I also ordered their first all-walnut resonator too, which turned out awesome. I guess, being ignorant, I have no fear! Normally I'd never consider zebrawood but, again, I am very curious to try something new. I've owned a few spruce top /mahogany ukes, but my experience of cedar is only from what I've gleaned reading these forums. Zebrawood is something I know nothing of either.

I'm also very grateful to the awesome builders who've generously offered me some direction here too, believe me. I'm quite intimidated by this board and I hesitated for ages before putting up the OP, so thankyou guys. Cheers Daniel! :eek:
 
BlackBearUkes said:
You can get a nice mellow warm sound with spruce if you know how to do it. Cedar is easier to work with in this regard, but I think I would like the looks of spruce with Zebra wood more than cedar. Just some thoughts.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot Duane, much appreciated. :) Yeah, aesthetically, spruce makes a lot more sense.

From the non-responses to the all-zebra option, should I erase this from my considerations guys?

Does it have similar tonal qualities to maple, and if so, would an all zebra perhaps be a little dull, quiet volume, poor projection and sustain? Time to do some more research methinks... :eek:
 
I'm about to resaw some quarter sawn redwood that came from a fence put up at Stanford University more than 50 years ago. Sanded it's nearly the color of sinker redwood...very dark. We'll see what it looks like inside. It's not the tightest grain I've seen, but it's really beautiful, it rings like a bell, it's very clean, and it sure is well seasoned!

And I got in literally a ton of quartered black acacia log sections from a large ( 30" plus diameter ) tree that came down in the Santa Cruz Mountains. No flame, but beautiful color and enough for scores of ukes and guitars. I'm going to match some of it with the redwood for some real local ukes, and probably do necks as well.
 
When comparing the Lanikai solid monkeypod to the company's solid zebrawood, the monkeypod wins hands down every time. Two ukuleles with the same (albeit poor) construction seem a fair rational for comparison. However I am under the impression that the Ohana zebrawood has fared better popularity. In the hands of a good builder, I would have similar hopes for an all zebra as I would an all maple. That is; anything is possible. If I were doing the building, I would use spruce, redwood, or a paper thin zebra/redwood doubletop.
 
I was about to chime in with "I wouldn't use it, it's too dense and too stiff" but then I would just be one of those armchair experts who reckon this and reckon that but never with any data to back them up.

I figured I'd just go to the wood stash and do some measuring. Here are a the densities and stiffnesses of some of the timbers I have at hand. These figures are not supposed to be representative of the species as a whole, just of the wood in my stash:cool:

Honduran Rosewood: 1136kg/m^3
Maple: 689kg/m^3
Zebrawood: 688kg/m^3
Cuban Hog: 737kg/m^3

Stiffness wise. The HRW will bearly flex, much stiffer than the others (as you'd expect). The zebra and cuban are about the same with the maple just a smidge less stiff.

The way I see it, a decent sounding zebrawood top on a uke would be within the realm of possibility.
 
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