I gave my ukulele the drop test!

Vespa Bob

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A beautiful calm sunny day here in San Jose, perfect for spraying a stain coat on my little soprano outside on the driveway. I had a pencil stuck in the bolt hole as a holding device and was spraying merrily away when for no reason whatsoever, the pencil broke right at the hole and I watched in horror as my weeks of work fell to the concrete, bounced once, twice, before settling down. I picked it up expecting to see splits and cracks everywhere, but to my surprise and relief, there was not so much as a scratch to be found! Knowing that most of the wood was around 1.5 mm thick, I was amazed.
I just had to relate my good fortune and a warning - don't use cheap pencils as a holding tool!

Bob
 

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It must be your lucky day! I'd be headed to the store for a lottery ticket, if I were you....;)
 
bounced once, twice, before settling down
I have long believed that luthiers should include a "coefficient of restitution" in their testing. The concepts of tone and aesthetics are only part of the perfect ukulele.
Congratulations on pioneering this interesting new field.
Miguel
 
I was going to write in the yellow cedar post that for neck wood, resistance to bending might be more important than janka hardness (resistence to a metal ball shot at it).
I guess the Janka hardness is important after all.
I remember Old Town in Maine demonstrated their canoes toughness by dropping one off the roof.

Nice work!
-Vinnie in Juneau
 
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