Favorite Wood(s)?

Joyful Uke

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What are your favorite wood(s) for fingerpicking? For strumming?

Could be one wood, (like all koa), or a combination, (like walnut with a cedar top, for example.)

I really don't have an answer for that. I was daydreaming about getting in line for a build, but have no idea what woods I'm daydreaming about. LOL.

I realize that the builder will make a difference too, but would guess that there are some generalizations that people can make regarding the sounds that they like.

I had some time off today, and have been enjoying listening to sound samples, but still can't answer the question. (I prefer to fingerpick, so probably like a little warmer sound?)

I guess I just need to go listen to more sound samples. Not a bad way to spend some time. :)
 
It does have a lot to do with the builder. An inexpensive spruce top can get a bad rap for being bright, brash and harsh. I like warm but I own 4 spruce topped tenors and two spruce topped baritones. They all have that sweet mid range sound with good bass and articulate highs. The thing I really like about spruce is the long sustain and good projection. It can be successfully paired with rosewood, maple, cocobolo, zircote etc for a brighter more powerful sound. Walnut, mahogany and koa all work well with a sonic coloring more towards softer sweeter mids.
 
Like Dave said a good sound mostly comes from the builder. It also depends what sound you’re looking to hear. Builders have their favorite combinations. A popular pairing is sinker redwood and Brazilian rosewood. I’ve got 1 uke built with that and looks/sounds terrific.

From a visual perspective, I love looking at curly and figured woods: koa, mango, mahogany, Katalox, maple, cherry,.... and have beautiful sounding ukes made from these.

A while back I talked to Steve Grimes about a build. His favorite wood pairing was sinker redwood and Brazilian rosewood. But at the time he was building an all quilted mahongany that turned out very warm with bright clear trebles. Ended up buying the quilted mahogany and was delighted with the sound and looks.
 
Just to add to the conversation because you asked about strumming vs fingerpicking. My all round favorite wood combo is spruce over rosewood, it strums and finger picks well. Next is spruce and myrtle for combined strumming and fingerpicking. Then redwood and walnut, better sounding fingerpicked. Redwood is an interesting sound board wood as it has the brightness of spruce with the warmth of cedar.
 
The two ukes I like best are my solid acacia & my solid mahogany (both tenor scaled concert bodied) - I like warm strong tones, & I get that with these two, although the acacia is a little bit brighter - both fitted with Living Water Low G fluorocarbon strings.
 
I love Koa, especially curly koa. My concert and tenor are both solid koa and I love the tone. I do want a spruce or cedar top one day but it'll be a while before I will buy a new uke,
 
my new favorite is my London plane uke. It is similar to mahogany. I have down-tuned it to CFAD so that its tone isn't just warm, but rather hot.42235715_1870024039754585_6308754487590780928_o.jpg
 
I’m hoping Adirondack spruce top with African Blackwood back/sides will be my new favorite, once the uke arrives. Should be soon. Until then, my favorites are all Koa, and (spruce or cedar) over (cocobolo or walnut).
 
I think the finish also contributes. Oiled vs. "Natural" Satin vs. High-Gloss. "Barely there" open-pore misted satin; multi hand-rubbed gloss coats; "wet look" heavy gloss; non-reflective flat matt.

My all-time favorite wood combination for all around sound is a rosewood body with spruce soundboard. I am not familiar enough to judge Bear Claw vs. Sitka vs. Englemann or "Moon" Spruces. Torrefied sounds really nice, but I haven't done a comparison.

Then there's the strings and how they contribute...
 
I travel too much to ever consider BRW as part of a wood set. I tend to like bright and therefore I have three Ukes using harder backs and sides but then again I have another 3 that produces warmer tones (2X Mahogany and one Tasmanian Blackwood. My newest I expect to fall somewhere in between as it is maple and Alaskan Yellow Cedar( brighter than WRC). In truth they all are fabulous instruments so I can never see myself sticking to one wood set combination.
 
Then there's the strings and how they contribute...

Good point. I changed strings on one ukulele the other day, (from Martins to Living Water), and now have a new ukulele. LOL. It very noticeably changed the sound. I know that makes a difference, but I was surprised at how big of a difference it made for this ukulele.
 
What are people's thoughts on all cherry or all walnut? How about a cherry top/walnut body?
 
What are people's thoughts on all cherry or all walnut? How about a cherry top/walnut body?

Is this a combination that people haven't experienced? Just wondering why RafterGirl didn't get any responses.
 
I've seen a few all cherry and all walnut ukuleles. There was an earlier post, I think by Ubulele (deleted??) that mentioned cherry and a few others as under appreciated tone woods. I've never seen a ukulele with a cherry top, paired with a different wood body. Most of the time your see spruce, cedar, and redwood tops paired with other woods for the body. Just curious about different combinations.

For the most part I've seen cherry described as a medium/bright tone wood, and walnut described as a warmer tone.
 
My favorite Pono tenor is solid mahogany -- side & back & soundboard are definitely in love with each other. It's 1 of those once-in-a-blue-moon lucky combos on a factory-made instrument. Just as there are sometimes "lemons" even among top-of-the-line luthier-made ukes, so also are there occasional "peaches" among factory-made ukes. This one is a peach!

Now then... I just ordered an el cheapo (Caramel) all-rosewood baritone from China. I hope I get lucky. 2 Questions:
1) I wonder where China gets its "rosewood" -- certainly not Brazil, right?
2) Does anyone know what kind of sound I can *possibly* expect from a rosewood top?
 
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