Mango and Koa Combinations?

snowdenn

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 16, 2019
Messages
445
Reaction score
47
In my quest for the perfect ukulele (I know, I know), I've found mango to be one of my favorite tonewoods. The mango ukes I've played and seen are always all mango body affairs. I don't think I've come across mango in combination with other woods. This is in contrast to koa (my, uh, other favorite), which is also often used for the entire body, but occasionally paired with other woods.

I guess I'm curious if anybody's come across combinations of mango and other tonewoods. And I'm wondering why it's so uncommon to see mango with anything else. Actually, I'm kind of curious why mango is not commonly used outside of ukuleles. Like in guitars or other stringed instruments with soundboards.

Anyway, I think my ideal wood combination would be mango top with koa back and sides. Does anybody know why this isn't a thing?

Edit: I should add, I have heard of KoAloha's Naupaka, which is super interesting, but it's kind of a weird 50/50 thing. I think they were trying to evenly combine koa and mango. My understanding is that a soundboard is responsible for something like 80% of the sound an instrument produces. I'd love to see a soundboard that is completely mango in combination with another tonewood, particularly koa, for the back and sides.
 
Last edited:

Thanks for that! Unfortunately, aside from the Naupaka, of the examples produced in the other thread, the Romero is a guitar, the Ono is a one-off custom, and the mango strip on the back of the Kala seems like it's more for visual aesthetics than producing a mango tone. Were you able to find out any more about mango in conjunction with other woods?
 
A koa top with mango B&S would be cool, sorta like the Kanilea Oha ukes, which pair a koa top with mahogany B&S.

Just out of curiosity, why a koa top with mango back and sides, and not the other way around? Is there something about mango and/or koa that makes you think it would work better that way? Or is it just because it would be similar to the Kanile'a ukuleles?
 
Yes the Naupaka was my first thought, but I don't think they are still made so you will have to scramble to get a NOS. I only played a few KoAloha mango ukes at the factory last year, and I was quite impressed with their sweet tone. But then it seems the KoAloha designs and team cane make any wood sound sweet ...
 
Top Bottom