Spruce it up or wait for Red Cedar Mainland

First: thanks to the UU! I've been reading the forums for a few days and learned a lot. I'm hoping the wise among you can help me with my dilemma.

I've been playing a cute little $25 Hilo since Christmas and am ready to invest in a real instrument. I've pretty much decided on a Mainland Concert and am sweet on the Red Cedar -- but they won't be available again until mid-summer. Mike at Uke Republic (hey Mike!) tells me that the Spruce top is pretty swell, too. So here's my question:

I'd like a ukulele that leans toward the mellow side of things. Is the Spruce significantly brighter than the Red Cedar? I can wait if the difference between them is one that is discernible to the untrained ear, but otherwise, I'm impatient and want my ukulele now!

Oh wise ones, tell me what to do!

(and if the answer is to get the Spruce but put on mellower strings like Worth's, that's cool -- but I'm a little nervous about string swapping technique, especially on a brand new instrument. I kinda want it playable straight from the case the first time, you know? Fewer things for me to mess up?)

If you want that mellow sound, I would recommend you wait on the red cedar. Cedar is a much more mellow tone wood than spruce. You could put any strings on it that you want but it will still be brighter than that cedar. It won't sound bad, by any means, but it will be on the bright side. If you want to go real mellow, get the Mainland and ask them to put Low-G strings on it.

I have a solid spruce topped Lanikai tenor that sounds great with Worth brown strings but I'd never describe the sound as mellow.

Cedar is an absolutely lovely soundboard on guitars and ukuleles. Perfect balance of tone and sustain and just mellow enough without being dull. That said, cedar takes care as its the softest soundboard and dings and scratches super easily. And, superb professionals like James Hill do use spruce tops.

So, what would I do ifi were you? Buy them both

Actually I agree with coolyaker1 buy both.
These are the two woods used in classical guitar for a reason.

Spruce is bright and punch, cedar is warm and mellow.

You might want to have one of each. In fact I would have the spruce tuned to high g and a cedar tuned low G...

Y'all are such enablers!
My royalty check is only going to cover one . . . the question is which.

This is great information, people. Thank you.
You are saying that the difference is significant. If I can only have one (for now) then I'll wait for the mellow fellow.
I suppose that will give me time to improve my skills and maybe be a tad worthier of the instrument when it arrives.

I did not mean get them both now... But if you kow you will eventually explore both types of woods then get the spruce now and begin your journey, eventually you'll come across a cedar.

If you think you will definitely stick with one for a long time, then what types sound do you prefer?

I'm a cedar top man myself, I have a few spruce ukes but only one cedartop classical guitar.

If I had to choose only one, then it's cedar. And do keep in mind as already mentioned, cedar is a bit more delicate. Still I have a 5 year old guitar that I play daily and it still looks near mint.

Enjoy the journey, that's what it is all about!

I have a Mainland red cedar soprano and love it. It's damaged right now (freak accident involving a falling picture frame while it was sitting right in my lap!), but the tone is gorgeous. Mike at Mainland made the purchase easy and it came to me perfectly set up. Just... guh. I miss playing it so much. It's a gorgeously rich-sounding ukulele, and I saved up to buy it when I realized I'd hit a wall with my nato Lanikai. A few months after I started playing, small intonation problems were magnified by an improved ear and technique. Eventually it was frustrating not being able to make the sound I wanted. That's when I knew I had to upgrade if I wanted to improve my skills. It sounds like you might be at that point.

That said: I recently bought a spruce top Makai soprano. The tone is completely different, but I'm very happy with it. In fact, I'm starting to think I prefer it to the cedar top to sing with. The spruce's brighter tone makes for a better contrast with my own vocal color. Sometimes I felt like I was fighting with the cedar top because its tone was similar to my voice. (Or what I want my voice to sound like, maybe. ) This isn't an apples to apples comparison, but I can't imagine going wrong with a Mainland spruce top, either. A preference for sopranos is the only thing that stopped me.

My 2 cents: first, decide if you've hit that ceiling with your Luna. If you think you can still make some progress toward whatever your ukulele goals are and it's still more fun than frustrating to play, waiting for your preferred Mainland for a few months doesn't seem like the end of the world. If the concerts sound as lovely as my soprano does, it's totally worth the wait. On the other hand, if you think it's time to upgrade and you don't think you'll be happy continuing on with the Luna in the short term (and I remember hitting that point), get the spruce top, play your heart out, and save up for a red cedar in the future.

Thanks for the cents, Lola. I just went to your blog and listened to a few of your tunes. Such a lovely voice!

I have a long way to go before I'm truly beyond this little ukulele. Its pure lust at this point. I can wait.

luluwrites said:

Thanks for the cents, Lola. I just went to your blog and listened to a few of your tunes. Such a lovely voice!

I have a long way to go before I'm truly beyond this little ukulele. Its pure lust at this point. I can wait.

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Ah feel yo pain. I waited until just a few days shy of 6 months for my Mainland mahogany pineapple. It's a beautiful instrument though. To pacify myself, I bought a Flea to play with during the wait. I had previoulsy bought a Mainland mahogany tenor--also excellent quality! It's even harder to wait when you've already experienced play a Mainland. Hang in there if you can.

If you want a mellower sound, you might consider mahogany as well. IMO spruce is brighter, cedar is warmer and mahogany is mellower.

itsme said:

If you want a mellower sound, you might consider mahogany as well. IMO spruce is brighter, cedar is warmer and mahogany is mellower.

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That's so well stated.

itsme said:

If you want a mellower sound, you might consider mahogany as well. IMO spruce is brighter, cedar is warmer and mahogany is mellower.

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Thanks for the suggestion, itsme.
I'm still learning the ukulele vocabulary -- terms like punch and warmth and brightness all have a unique meaning in the ukulele (or music, maybe?) world and it can be as challenging as learning the vocabulary that wine folks used to characterize a Cabernet.

I've listened to cedars and mahoganies and I know I prefer the sound of cedar. My word was mellow, but perhaps "warm" is good or better a description.

Thanks to all of you for your responses. I'm getting such an education today!