mango wood colour

I'm a big fan of mango wood. I have a spalted mango uke and even a native american flute, drone, made of mango wood.

Usually the mango wood seems to be in the tan segment of the colour wheel but in looking at the Mainland mango ukes I notice that the mango wood there has a more reddish tint. I'm wondering if it is the finish they use that creates that shade of reddish brown or are they using a specific type of mango wood to give their ukes that hue?

fretie said:

I'm a big fan of mango wood. I have a spalted mango uke and even a native american flute, drone, made of mango wood.

Usually the mango wood seems to be in the tan segment of the colour wheel but in looking at the Mainland mango ukes I notice that the mango wood there has a more reddish tint. I'm wondering if it is the finish they use that creates that shade of reddish brown or are they using a specific type of mango wood to give their ukes that hue?

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The mango wood I use for necks can be from light tan, yellow, orange, green and brown. It just depends on the wood they use.

Yep, like Duane says, mango is like most species - there is a lot of variation from tree to tree, probably even different parts of the same tree in the case of older/larger specimens.

Both of my Mainland mangos are well into the yellow/orange spectrum and I don't think they've been dyed. It's hard to tell for sure because applying a finish deepens and strengthens whatever color is there so comparing the finished outside to the unfinished inside isn't always useful.

I've seen Koa from KoAloha range from almost yellow to deep reddish-orange and the back on my concert was almost green.

John

BlackBearUkes said:

The mango wood I use for necks can be from light tan, yellow, orange, green and brown.

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Sometimes mango is all those colors in one piece of wood.

This doesn't answer your specific question about the mango used by Mainland Ukes, but if you want to see one uke builder's range of mango (or other woods) check out the Mya-Moe gallery. Under Back & Side Wood, click Mango (or expand it to click a subcategory), then click View Results.

cantsing said:

This doesn't answer your specific question about the mango used by Mainland Ukes, but if you want to see one uke builder's range of mango (or other woods) check out the Mya-Moe gallery. Under Back & Side Wood, click Mango (or expand it to click a subcategory), then click View Results.

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:drool:

wow! how stunning!

thanks for that link, cantsing, what a great resource and what excellent examples of the tonewoods.

beautiful range of mango woods; I love 'em all! :iwant:

mketom said:

Sometimes mango is all those colors in one piece of wood.
View attachment 64499

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Wow...now that's a beauty!

I've had spalted mango that has included reds, oranges and yellows, looking like flames. I've got some chocolate mango that has beautiful dark brown patterns in it. It's the blotchy grays in a lot of mango I don't car for. As a rule though, most Hawaiian mango is blonde in color.