I've gone right off Spalted Mango

[Timbuck]

I put this one together yesterday . And today was going to fit the bindings ... I picked up the neck for a trial fit ...like I have done before a thousand times i pressed it into the dovetail with hardly any pressure and POP! My thumb went right through the back ...well Spalted means rotten wood so I should have known better.
I now realise that I'm just a Mahogany kind of guy. ...and NO I will not make it into a rear sound hole.

22659C99-8573-48DD-BC03-2C2F9F40024F by Ken Timms,

 

[DuckyI]

I had a physical reaction from that picture, like a whole-body wince. Sorry to see this Ken. Your work with mahogany is essentially unrivalled so you are well within your rights to stick with what you know!

 

[Timbuck]

At least you tried it out and didn't just talk about trying it out.

The unfinished edge look has some fans, I have seen some ukes made with weird sound holes and shapes. Will you replace the back or work out a way to make the back work and have a useable ukulele, or is it already firewood?

Well bill I think this calls for a new back ... maybe something dark in complete contrast ... rosewood would be nice.

 

[mikeyb2]

I could be wrong Ken, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that spalted wood needs to be stabilised with some sort of chemical, to prevent it doing that. Maybe flooding it with ca might work. Mike

 

[Timbuck]

I could be wrong Ken, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that spalted wood needs to be stabilised with some sort of chemical, to prevent it doing that. Maybe flooding it with ca might work. Mike

Yes I remember now, reading something about that in the past ..I should have taken more notice... although this wood can look quite pretty to some people, It is rotten wood after all and not the sort of stuff for boat building with its poor mechanical properties.

 

[John Colter]

Rotten luck.

 

[Timbuck]

I decided that I could not be bothered with the repair and fix it routine .. In the past I found that usually something else goes wrong further down the line ... so I took it to the Bandsaw and put it out of its misery.

 

[kerneltime]

I decided that I could not be bothered with the repair and fix it routine .. In the past I found that usually something else goes wrong further down the line ... so I took it to the Bandsaw and put it out of its misery.

Winter is around the corner and firewood will be needed!

 

[rustydusty]

Rotten luck.

I see what you did there!!

 

[Moore Bettah Ukuleles]

Yes I remember now, reading something about that in the past ..I should have taken more notice... although this wood can look quite pretty to some people, It is rotten wood after all and not the sort of stuff for boat building with its poor mechanical properties.

Even mango that is not spalted can be pretty weak. The grain seems to run like a bowl of spaghetti. Treating it with thin ca glue would probably only strengthen it slightly. There are much better choices for building with than using spalted woods.

 

[Ukelori]

Rotten luck.

 

[Jerryc41]

I put this one together yesterday . And today was going to fit the bindings ... I picked up the neck for a trial fit ...like I have done before a thousand times i pressed it into the dovetail with hardly any pressure and POP! My thumb went right through the back ...well Spalted means rotten wood so I should have known better.
I now realise that I'm just a Mahogany kind of guy. ...and NO I will not make it into a rear sound hole.

22659C99-8573-48DD-BC03-2C2F9F40024F by Ken Timms,

When you find a winner, stick with it.

 

[Ukecaster]

Awesome...a belly soundport!

 

[Coast_Ukulele]

i’m a big fan of using mango wood on ‘ukes but am also off of spalted mango! Nothing as big as the back soundport you ran into but i don’t think i have enough ca glue to deal with anymore spalted mango. beautiful look though.

for reference this ‘uke is more ca glue than mango wood.

 

[tonyturley]

Well, sorry to hear of your troubles. I have a stack of spalted Maple resawn, stickered, and drying, expecting to start construction early next year. Hope I have better success. I didn't detect any punky wood in my log. We'll see.

 

[RPAtech]

I could be wrong Ken, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that spalted wood needs to be stabilised with some sort of chemical, to prevent it doing that. Maybe flooding it with ca might work. Mike

You are remembering correctly.
Here's a video showing the process:



(Go to the 4 min. 56 second mark to see how its done)

Spalted wood is often used in traditional bows. It really is just rotten wood. Many people like it because of the unique look.
It has to be epoxy resin impregnated (stabilized) in order to be useable.

I prefer wood that isn't spalted for bows and ukuleles. I've also head it referred to as "burled" or "burl" wood.

For ukuleles, I'd imagine spalted wood, being much less dense, would affect the sound quality. Not in a good way I suppose.

If a board were stabilized, depending on how much density is reduced due to the wood rotting (spalting), that board would be as much epoxy as it were wood. Likely not a positive thing for sound quality purposes.

I'd imagine luthiers have that part figured out over the years as to the amount of spalting allows for good building qualities.

I'd love to hear more about that since its pretty interesting. I only know of it from archery where strength is the main concern.

 

[Voran]

I love spalted woods, but otoh I don't want an instrument that might break if I strum too aggressively.

 

[Timbuck]

Looks to me like, you build a uke made out of resin, and add some rotting wood to the mix for visual effects .

 

[Titchtheclown]

I had some spalted wood that was too punky to use for anything except a headstock face plate. The one thing I learned from that experience is that trying to stabilise it with superglue can set it on fire.

 

[Patty]

I had some spalted wood that was too punky to use for anything except a headstock face plate. The one thing I learned from that experience is that trying to stabilise it with superglue can set it on fire.

I guess luthiery can be perilous. It’s a dangerous job, but somebody’s gotta do it!