Side and back material

Hi all. First post here. I'm new to ukes but have been a guitar player for 30+ years. I live in a dryer climate, with the humidity occasionally dropping into the teens (summer and winter), but sometimes hitting 70% inside during the rainy season. I use humidifiers for both my acoustic guitars and so far so good, but now that I'm looking at a couple of tenor ukes, I'm debating between laminate back/sides vs. solid (I've read through several posts here on UU about solid vs laminate tops and overall construction, but didn't find anything on just backs and sides).

My question is how much I will lose going from solid back/sides to laminate, assuming all else is the same (top tonewood, construction type and quality, etc.). Specifically, I'm looking at a solid mahogany tenor (Kala, Ohana, etc) vs the Ohana TK-20S (solid mahogany top, laminate sides and back) and the Ohana TK-50G (all solid: cedar top and rosewood back and sides) vs the Kala ATP-CT (cedar top, laminate sides). These are all in the $200-300 range, and price difference is less important to me than sound and stability through humidity fluctuations.

Thanks!

Dusty,

Your best bet for stability through humidity fluctuations is certainly going to be laminates. However, the consensus is that solid wood ukes (in general) produce the more pleasing tone. If you like warmth, choose mahogany. It will give you a more 'classic' uke sound, and will be great for strumming. If you like a little brighter tone with greater clarity and note separation for fingerpicking, rosewood is a better bet. Cedar will help add warmth to the rosewood, and many people feel that this is the ideal tonewood combination. It will, however, produce a sound that more closely resembles a classical guitar than will mahogany. I love classical guitar, so I'm ok with that.

I'm not sure whether it's mahogany or rosewood that will be more stable, as so much depends on the quality of the wood, and quality of the luthier. Either one should be just fine if cared for and kept well humidified in the dry climates. I have several nice solid wood ukes that I always keep humidified with an Oasis humidifier in the sound hole, and I have never (knock on wood) had a problem. Just be sure to maintain the humidifier and fill it regularly.

Good luck with your purchase. I am no expert on Kala or Ohana, but based on what I do know, if I had to choose from your list, I'd be going for the Ohana TK-50G. Just my opinion.

-Steve

The top tonewood will have a much greater impact on sound than will the back/sides. It's quite common for a solid top uke to have laminated B/S.

Aloha Dusty, welcome to UU. Glad you joined us.

I live in Minnesota where the humidity in the house can get well below 30% when the furnace is running (1/3 of the year ) If you have a hard case (or a hard foam case) with a hydrometer to measure the humidity and a humidifier you should be fine with what ever you pick. I have the TK-20S (and love it) as well as all solid ukes and never had a problem. I just start to monitor them when I turn the furnace on.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you get!

PS. Make sure you buy the uke from a reputable uke dealer. They will screen out the stinkers and set it up for you. You won't be sorry you did even if it cost a few bucks more.

Thanks for the replies (and any more to come)! I've been talking to HMS and Mim, and both seem knowledgeable. Just to clarify, after listening to numerous samples and recorded pieces with both monitor headphones and "music" headphones, I think I'll probably end up with three: mahogany top, cedar top and acacia (of some kind) top, since the sounds are so distinct and I like them all (spruce was last, but I'm not discounting it). There seem to be several options for solid or laminate sides/backs in the $200-350 mid-range (Ohana, Kala, Pono, Islander).