I Wanna Know - Technical Questions Regarding Wood

Aloha ...

I'm new to UU and my buddy suggested I post a new thread rather than tagging it onto an existing one.

I've been checking types of wood and their characteristics the past few months ... waiting for custom tenor build. Anyways ... I've selected (in my mind) a mix of dark and curly koa - always subject to change until the build is finalized. Questions top of mind for me that I have not yet found answers for are:

1) How does maturity of wood affect tonal quality? I use grains per inch as a measure of maturity.
2) What effect does aging wood have a ukulele's characteristics? Kamaka ages their koa a minimum of three years or more.
3) Is there a difference ... book joining versus aligning boards up/down ... affecting tonal characteristics or is it purely cosmetic ?

I trust my luthier but I'm also a geek and want to understand how choices impact the final product.

Appreciate the knowledge ... Danny

1) Depends on the piece of wood
2) Depends on the piece of wood
3) Depends on the piece of wood

While it's kinda possible to make generalisations on wood characteristics across many, many instruments, when you are talking about a sample size of one, generalisations don't really mean s*&t.

If you can't trust your luthier who can you trust.................

Wood needs to be dry. Not just on the surface, but right through. I never touch a piece of wood for a build no matter who sends it to me for at least 6 months after it's been sized down to about 4mm and stored in my dry room. Most won't get touched for many years. That's why so many of us have a wood stash that seems a bit absurd to others that only build as a hobby.

Book matches look best in my opinion. Sound better.....sure why not.

The rest is far too speculative to offer comment.

Vaya con Dios..

Chris_H said:

Vaya con Dios..

Click to expand...

hahah

Did you hear the one about the Dyslexic Insomniac Agnostic?- He sat up all night wondering if there was a dog.

1- Book matched looks great, some have done one piece tops n backs over the centuries. no tonal considerations, only width of wood. But like Allen said, sure why not, it sounds better...

2- grains per inch- alot of theory and dry ice speculation, great instruments have been built with both wide grain (7 per inch!) and tight grain. Tight is usually stiffer as it has more of the stiffer winter growth (the darker lines)

3- like what has been said- just as long as the wood is dry and stable, 1 or 3 years whatever- depends on thickness. I like to sand sets down a bit when i get them to speed up the process.

4- Another aspect of Mature wood is, for instance, the Old growth Brazilian cut down say, in 1930 (lets just say "ages ago"), is prized as the resin (etc) as crystallized making it all very hard, stiff, resonant, expensive etc. A bitch to bend apparently, i've only bent newer Brazilian.

Grains per inch? I don't understand how you use this as a measure of maturity? And what do you mean as far as "maturity of wood". So you mean how long the tree has grown or how long it has been drying since it was cut? I guess I don't understand how you are using the word "maturity".
I believe you are talking about the annual rings which is the rate of how a tree grows so this does not have anything to do with maturity of the wood. For the entire period of a tree's life, a year-by-year record or ring pattern is formed that reflects the climatic conditions in which the tree grew. Adequate moisture and a long growing season result in a wide ring. A drought year may result in a very narrow one. Yes, the closer lines are usually the ones towards the center of the tree but not always. Those lines do not get closer together as the tree matures. And it is a myth as far as the closer the lines the better the tonal quality of the top. That is not true. I've had some amazing Doug Fir that had wider lines and the tap tone was incredible! Like Liam said, it depends on the wood; the species, the conditions it was grown under etc, etc, etc.

Two for the reading list:

http://www.amazon.com/UNDERSTANDING-WOOD-2nd-EDITION-Hoadley/dp/B000UQH160

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/products/publications/several_pubs.php?grouping_id=100&header_id=p

And those are just a start. Then read all back issues of American Lutherie and the journal of the American Society of Stringed Instrument Artisans and the Journal of the Catgut Acoustical Society, all of Roger Siminoff's books, Left Brain Lutherie by David Hurd, and find every article you can from Dana Bourgeois and Al Carruth.

And if you do that, you'll start to know something. Then build instruments for ten or twenty years. Then you'll really have some interesting questions.

Hmmm ...

I appreciate all the comments ... I'll admit I don't have a clue and its reflected in my questions.

As Liam said ... trust your luthier.

Time to get a good nights rest

Danny

bkmdano said:

Hmmm ...

I appreciate all the comments ... I'll admit I don't have a clue and its reflected in my questions.

As Liam said ... trust your luthier.

Time to get a good nights rest

Danny

Click to expand...

I hear you picked a good luthier