Anyone with myrtle ukes out there?

Eyeguy

Eyeguy

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Ok, so I had pretty much decided to order a Mya-Moe tenor in mango, and then I heard this video




Man o man, that myrtle sounds fantastic to me! Anyone else out there have experience with myrtle that can speak about it's tone compared to other tonewoods, and, maybe compare and contrast it to mango?

Also, in terms of bindings, what would look good with myrtle - koa, walnut, ebony? It's hard to tell from pictures or videos exactly what color myrtle is.

Thanks
 
Myrtle sparkles, mine is a six string (#615), so it is hard to compare to my koa ukuleles.
Gordon really likes myrtle. The color can vary quite a bit. Let Char match the binding, she has great taste.
Mine is walnut binding and complements the myrtle. Some myrtle has more grey and walnut does well. If the myrtle has more brown then koa looks good.
 
We love it ! I just shipped a all myrtle tenor and it sounder fantastic . If your interested we have some sound sampels of myrtle paired with different soft tops on our YouTube chanel . My daily player is myrtle
 
Ken Middleton said:
Remember that John is a fine player. Pretty much anything he plays is going to sound good.
Click to expand...
That was simply heavenly, I'm just blown away. That playing would certainly sound great on ANY ukulele....wow. Double wow!
 
He also has a hilarious cover of I Will Survive on his channel. He really should post more vids.

But yeah, love love the uke!
 
Very impressed with his playing and the sound of Myrtle. To me, it sounds more mellow than other Mya Moe ukes I've heard but I've never heard someone playing classical music on it either. I would be very happy with Myrtle.
 
One of the things you may find amazing, aside from the playing, which is incredible, is he is playing a low G and that will always give a nice bottom end to any uke - that bottom end gives a deeper tone than we are used to. Just a thought - forgive me if you already took that into account. That notwithstanding, myrtle is a wonderful wood. Mike
 
The only myrtle uke I've played is my one year old Mya-Moe concert, so it's not like I have much experience with Myrtle ukes, but based on this one I own, I don't think I'd get another myrtle uke in the future (of course, I hope I don't get ANY ukes in the future since I have way more than enough right now). It simply pales next to good koa (Martin C1K, Glyph) and mahogany (Collings UC1) ukes in the sound department, at least to my ears.

It does look awesome and on its own it sounds very good. But when I play it back to back to some of the koa & mahogany ukes I've mentioned, it just seems to be a step below. Again, this is just my experience based on one myrtle uke I've played and I'm not making any generalizations.
 
Eyeguy said:
Ok, so I had pretty much decided to order a Mya-Moe tenor in mango, and then I heard this video




Man o man, that myrtle sounds fantastic to me! Anyone else out there have experience with myrtle that can speak about it's tone compared to other tonewoods, and, maybe compare and contrast it to mango?

Also, in terms of bindings, what would look good with myrtle - koa, walnut, ebony? It's hard to tell from pictures or videos exactly what color myrtle is.

Thanks
Click to expand...


how could he make it sound bad. Even just listen to his speech you can tell what a quality set up he has. I am sure a lot lesser ukes would sound just fine.
 
Thanks for all the opinions and advice. I do realize John could probably make a cardboard uke sound great, but even so, I've heard a number of other top notch uke players doing their thing on koa and mahogany and other tone woods, and this myrtle one just sounded great. And yes, it could have had a lot to do with the recording set-up and maybe he just got a "good one" or whatever, but it sure caught my ear big time. Given I already have a mahogany and a koa tenor uke, I thought of getting something different and was kinda locked in on mango until I heard this video.

Mike, I had not taken that into account although I do agree it does make a difference as I have a tenor strung both ways and have noticed the difference. Thanks for pointing it out.

GX9901, Thanks for the honest appraisal - I realize not everyone is a fan of everything and I was hoping I might get some opinions that reflected that.
 
SailingUke said:
Myrtle sparkles, mine is a six string (#615), so it is hard to compare to my koa ukuleles.
Gordon really likes myrtle. The color can vary quite a bit. Let Char match the binding, she has great taste.
Mine is walnut binding and complements the myrtle. Some myrtle has more grey and walnut does well. If the myrtle has more brown then koa looks good.
Click to expand...

Ooohh... that's one pretty uke! I normally don't name ukes, but that one is "Tiger" for sure. Six strings too, wow!!

–Lori
 
I believe I'm in the minority but I'm not a fan of myrtle. I had a myrtle Mya Moe and it really didn't do much for me...I don't know how to describe my issues with it...it sounded "hollow" to me. I've come to realize that I much prefer the sound of koa or mahogany. I've since sold that uke and have plans on getting a koa Mya Moe in the future.
 
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