I need some reviews on certain type of Uke woods.

Well hello everybody, thanks for tuning in (no pun intended). Well, today, me and my friend have set foot out on an adventure, seeking for a ukulele. Since I myself know a little bit about uke, I was able to test out some. And the final decisions were either a uke made out of Mahogany, Spruce or Zebrawood. I was quite drawn to the design of Zebrawood, but I'm not exactly sure about wood quality. Can anybody give me reviews about those 3 wood types? Especially the Zebrawood, since I tried to look for some reference on that type and found very little. Sidenote, all three are about the same price, I also have a set of D'addario Titanium strings to equip on, and the 3 ukes I have set eyes on all came from Vietnam. Thanks y'all, and have a good day!

I've never played a zebrawood instrument, but mahogany and spruce are at 2 opposite ends of the spectrum. Mahogany is warm and mellow, whereas spruce is bright and punchy. I'm more of a mahogany fan myself, but it comes down to personal preference. This video might help...

Thank you for your reply. I really am torn between the Mahogany and the Zebrawoob one. Both sounded quite warm and mellow, though I think the Zebrawood has a slight different tone (warm but... "bright"???) (I prefer that over Spruce's bright tone), and both are also quite attractive looking. I'm actually a little bit on the Zebrawood side. It looks amazing as heck, and it is not as, um, common(?) as the Mahogany one. Thanks for your reply though.

dangkhoahue said:

Thank you for your reply. I really am torn between the Mahogany and the Zebrawoob one. Both sounded quite warm and mellow, though I think the Zebrawood has a slight different tone (warm but... "bright"???) (I prefer that over Spruce's bright tone), and both are also quite attractive looking. I'm actually a little bit on the Zebrawood side. It looks amazing as heck, and it is not as, um, common(?) as the Mahogany one. Thanks for your reply though.

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Judging from the video, it looks like it's somewhere between the two, and it sure does look pretty.

Sounds like you have already tried out some, so I'd go with the one you thought sounded & felt best.

(Likely it won't be your only one. )

Sadly, I still couldn't decide which one. This is probably my only uke (unless after another 20 yrs or so), since I have to save up for college as well. Do you have any opinions on this matter? I would gladly hear it.

Yes I do have an opinion on this matter. If they are both the same make, the same over all quality and you like the sound the same buy the one you are most excited to look at. A musical instrument is a thing of beauty, wood is organic and we can derive as much pleasure from looking at and holding it as playing it. Get the Zebrawood.........you know you really want that one.

We each like different things, but you seem to like the zebrawood best, so as Dave says, go get that one.

Thank you. It was your reply that helped me form my decision, which is the Zebrawood ukulele. I don't regret any part about it. However, I'm quite sure the strings on here are low quality (I have a lil bit of experience on strings, and I was quite sure if it's bad or not). If you were me, which would you go for, the Aquila new or super Nylgut or D'addario titanium? My uke is a tenor by the way if it helps. Thanks for your wonderful help and I wish you a nice day.

My personal favourite strings are Living Water Fluorocarbons - but of the two sets you are looking at, I'd go with the Titaniums, I think they are better than the Super Nylguts.

Congrats. Good advice above. Agreed that the visual aspect is important, and may lead you to give it more attention, like many things in life and love. For strings, don't overlook a good set of flourocarbons, like the Living Waters previously mentioned, or Martin M600, which are very affordable, and easily available. They have positively transformed many ukes for me, compared to Aquilas, YMMV.

It never hurts to experiment with different strings, each uke seems to respond well to a certain type of string. More accurately it is us the player that like a certain sound. Aquila are a good starting point if that is what is on it. They are usually bright and loud, some say brash. The Titaniums have a nice balance between warm and bright. If you have easy access to those they are a good one to try. Next up are florocarbon and there are many manufactures with warm or bright models. On your tenor I like Oasis, either warm or bright depending on how you want the uke to sound.

I rather like the D'Addario Titaniums and currently have them on 3 ukes. I did it as an experiment to see how different ukes would sound with the same type of string. Not sure I'll replace any of these with the same string net time around, but generally I like the tones that I'm getting from the D'Addario Titanium strings. I took Orca Florocarbons off one of them and didn't like those at all, prefer the Titaniums on THAT uke. Took Pepe Romero Florocarbons off another one, replaced that one with Titaniums and will probably go back to the original brand of Florocarbons on THAT uke. Took Aquila Nylaguts off the 3rd uke, and prefer the Titaniums, but am certainly willing to try something else there too.

As for the wood choices, its not terribly easy to answer, it seems you may have made your choice already, but I'll add my 2-cents worth to the discussion. If the woods are solid then comparisons of the 'wood' can be made. If the woods are laminates then its far more difficult because laminate tops vary in construction (thickness, type of adhesive, materials used in each layer, etc, etc) so if any of the wood choices are laminates its difficult to characterize the tone.

I deleted your thread from the Ukulele Beginners section and as someone mentioned, there's no reason to ask the same question in two different sections.