Moore Bettah Ukuleles
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Tops, backs and sides. Do a Google search for Jeffery, he's quite well known.
Your most unique or unusual wood use?
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Tops, backs and sides. Do a Google search for Jeffery, he's quite well known.
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YogiTom
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Dave Sigman of Little River Ukulele has monkeypod listed as a wood he has available for use. He doesn’t specify whether it could be used for the soundboard, but at the very least it should make some interesting back and sides.
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YogiTom
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Awesome! I love the trees and the interesting grain patterns, too. Very interested to hear a sound sample if you have any!
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YogiTom
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Great idea, Bill, but in my limited research along these lines I quickly found that the less commonly used woods tend to either have incomplete or no data around hardness, shrinkage, or elasticity. Hence me channeling the collective UU community for empirical results.
Edit: if there are other factors in the wood’s objective qualities that I missed in the above post, please chime in! I am just guessing that hardness, how much the wood might shrink or expand, and elasticity would be the most important factors in whether to use a piece of wood for building.
Also, it doesn’t just have to be about the body. Have you used something different for the neck or even bracing inside? I love the idea of doing aromatic woods like cedar and sandalwood so that the uke smells as good as it sounds and looks.
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It will involve a former US President signing the label
If the top of the Resolute Desk goes missing...
ktuurna
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I just use curly birch for bindings. I like its texture very much. It is hard and beautiful wood, but little tricky to handle. I wouldn't use it for sides or back, becouse it is too unstable for that and probably crack.View attachment 117163
Nickie
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I hope you don't mind me chiming in. I've never built an ukulele, I'd wind up with a lot of toothpicks and shavings if I tried. Might even sustain a visit to the ER, power tools and I aren't good friends. I almost lost a finger with a dumb chainsaw once!
But...I think cocobolo wood is still "Not mainstream" in luthiery.
It's hard as a rock, smells pretty, and the dust will make you sick. I think it makes some of the loveliest sounding/looking ukes in the world.
But...I think cocobolo wood is still "Not mainstream" in luthiery.
It's hard as a rock, smells pretty, and the dust will make you sick. I think it makes some of the loveliest sounding/looking ukes in the world.
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YogiTom
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Birch holds a special place in my heart. Ancestors came from Sweden, with the last name Björk which literally means “birch”. Perhaps an heirloom custom build with the old family crest inlayed with birch into the headstock?
Love the player opinions, too, so thanks for chiming in! I’ll admit, I see cocobolo talked about a lot on here, and drool at every picture of the resulting ukes. Your photos are no exception!
Sven
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That’d be masurbjörk in Swedish. I have one still growing in my aunt’s garden. She wants it cut down but I wait for it to get bigger.
Lopaka96707
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thanks for the info.. i have a few slabs if monkey pod I'm thinking of making a uke with and will be posting an update once the build starts
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YogiTom
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I don’t mean to nitpick, but I’m fairly certain the ‘ohia lehua is an endemic flowering Hawaiian tree (unlike monkeypod, which was introduced more recently) that provides ample nectar for insects and birds like the i’iwi. Also a pioneer plant, helping to establish the forests in the hard volcanic soil.
In recent years, the trees have been dying off from a fungus (I think?), and so active logging has stopped. I know the heartwood held significance in Hawaiian culture, being used for ceremonial weapons and tools. And if I’m not mistaken, Kanile‘a did a limited series of ukes made from Hawaiian woods, using ‘ohia as decoration.
Me? I would love a uke made entirely from it! But I’m also in the mead/honey wine business, so the honey from the trees is what really first inspired this love and appreciation.
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sequoia
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Some data on monkeypod wood below. Note Janka hardness at 900. Soft.
Common Name(s): Monkeypod, Monkey Pod, Raintree
Scientific Name: Albizia saman
(syn. Samanea saman, Pithecellobium saman)
Distribution: Central and South America
(Also planted/naturalized in many tropical regions of the world)
Tree Size: 100-125 ft (30-38 m) tall, 3-4 ft (1-1.2 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: 38 lbs/ft3 (600 kg/m3)
Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .48, .60
Janka Hardness: 900 lbf (4,010 N)
Modulus of Rupture: 9,530 lbf/in2 (65.7 MPa)
Elastic Modulus: 1,149,000 lbf/in2 (7.92 GPa)
Crushing Strength: 5,790 lbf/in2 (39.9 MPa)
Shrinkage: Radial: 2.0%, Tangential: 3.4%, Volumetric: 6.0%, T/R Ratio: 1.7
ktuurna
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Michael Smith
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I don't have a soundfile of Monterrey Cypress but here is an image of the wood in use. I'm working on an inlay of a Monterey Cypress tree overhanging the ocean. Smells great when you cut or sand. Density can very. I have harvested some that is almost too soft and some that is too dense for top wood but would make a great body. The harder stuff seems to be the most beautiful.
Lopaka96707
Active member
there are Ohia logs available locally from lumber yards / home improvement stores used in construction for accent pieces so they are still being harvested. as for making a ukulele out of ohia I haven't thought about that one yet.. though kiawe ( mesquite ) I have thought might make for a good fret board
as for mead I have a few pounds of papaya and kiawe honey waiting to be turned into mead
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YogiTom
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... as for mead I have a few pounds of papaya and kiawe honey waiting to be turned into mead
If you have any leads on lychee honey, let me know.
The kiawe is always a favorite of mine, too. Dave Sigman (who I mentioned earlier) has built with it as a fretboard material, so it should work for you, too.Also, lychee and longan woods look pretty neat.
Lopaka96707
Active member
Lychee honey? No leads, lychee fruit? We have a 40year old dwarf lychee tree.If you have any leads on lychee honey, let me know.
Also, lychee and longan woods look pretty neat.
As far as wood is concerned I have a small stockpile of Sapele scraps given to me by a friend who made art bracing for the local art museum. The pieces look to be just about the right size to be kerfing and or bracing. Would it be too hard for those uses?
How about ko'u? It's right up there with the rarest.
https://www.theukulelesite.com/ono-custom-spruce-kou-16-scale-concert.html
https://www.theukulelesite.com/ono-custom-spruce-kou-16-scale-concert.html
jcalkin
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I used a lot of birch in my early days because it was the cheapest hardwood sold at the local lumber yard. It was all off-quarter and very pretty because of that. Its grayish cast made it a beautiful pairing with walnut. I remember my first really fancy dulcimer and two mandolins that were especially nice. On the other hand, I have a guitar set of yellow birch, and it is so bright and plain that I may have to cut it up for trim work.
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YogiTom
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Doh! Pays to double check before posting! And thanks for clarifying and pointing out my oversight.
FWIW, I hate common plant names, though forcing people to use Latin names exclusively also feels a bit off to me. What you did here (common followed by Latin) works best for my poor brain.
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