Snakewood tonewood?

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Horst

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Hello all!

I am new to this after being a guest for a few months now. I finally have a question so decided to make an account.

I found a ukulele utilizing solid snakewood for back and sides. This intrigued me due to the rarity of the stuff.

Has anyone ever seen or heard something like that?

I can’t find much information on tonal quality as it is never really used in this fashion. What would the tone be like? Would it be worth getting? It would certainly make a unique addition to my collection.

Edit: A reply made me realize I left out vital information. It has a taiwania top that makes it even more unique and difficult to decide. Neither wood has much information on them.
 
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From what I hear, it is incredibly dense. I think you should be more concerned with the wood that's on top. The sides and back, obviously, contribute to the tone but it is the top's vibration that is the big factor.

I personally would consider the back and sides as decoration. Accordingly I would definitely buy a snakewood uke because it looks so beautiful. If I had a choice, I'd probably opt for a top wood that is relatively dense because I like the warm tone from that end of the spectrum versus the twangier spruce.
 
Thank you for the reply!
In that case it gets even more interesting. It has a beautiful looking taiwania top.
The problem is there is even less information on tonal quality of taiwania lol. It certainly looks gorgeous though.
 
Possibly because Taiwania is an endangered species where natural distribution is limited to Taiwan (hence the name), parts of southwestern China, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Traditional uses in the East are not as tonewood, but for things like coffins because of its aromatic properties. Supposedly a soft conifer.

The only ukes I've ever seen that claim this tonewood are the BruceWei ones that are actually made in Vietnam. My guess is they are harvesting locally. No idea about the legality of it. Never seen Taiwania in person, but legal supply of this wood is really limited, and there's not CITES exemption so no idea if international travel with the instrument could be problematic.
 
Hey Horst,

we're all different but I am proudly superficial. As long as the uke is beautiful and well-made, I don't really care about the tone. I figure the tone will take care of itself. Maybe the tone will be warm, maybe bright, definitely somewhere in the narrow spectrum which is the ukulele tone. So I just accept the ukulele and its unique voice, and then play it. As a case in point, the apple of my eye is my London plane tree tenor. When I bespoke it to the luthier, I merely specified the look I wanted. I didn't worry about tone. I thought of it as a Russian mail-order bride: it was beautiful and I wanted to be around it, and I figured I would be accustomed to its voice and peculiarities over time and pretty soon that ukulele's sound would be the default sound in my heart when I thought of ukuleles.

Most people don't think like me and you'll soon be getting their perspective as well. I thought I would affix my point of view just for some breadth. For the record, I should totally jump at a ukulele that wasn't the same old Koa; I like to be different.
 
Hello and thanks for the information. That’s exactly who it’s being sold by, Bruce Wei. I have a few of his instruments and Im in love with them. I play them more than my Martin T1k and Kanile'a k1 tenor. Probably due to the custom inlay work. He even put my name on one of the headstock which is a cool touch. Like Ripock, I am a sucker for aesthetics. I’ll do a little digging to see if I can find the legality of it. I’m leaning towards just getting it and crossing my fingers lol.
 
I appreciate the input. I certainly do love good looking instruments As well. I think I am somewhere in the middle. I’m kind of picky on both tone and looks. At the end of the day a good ukulele is a good ukulele. It would certainly be different. I’m sure it would get a lot of questions haha.
 
Never heard of it, but it looks cool. Extremely dense at 3800 on Janka scale. By contrast, mahogany is 900. Easy to see where it got its name. Wood-database.com says: "As a rare and small tree, prices for surfaced and milled Snakewood that display the characteristic snakeskin pattern are perhaps the most expensive of any exotic lumber worldwide in terms of per-boardfoot cost."

https://www.wood-database.com/snakewood/

Snakewood.JPG

Snakewood on a Lichty guitar fretboard

Snakewood fretboard.JPG
 
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Used for deluxe Tenor Kamaka tuners too.
 
ripock said:
From what I hear, it is incredibly dense. I think you should be more concerned with the wood that's on top. The sides and back, obviously, contribute to the tone but it is the top's vibration that is the big factor.

I personally would consider the back and sides as decoration. Accordingly I would definitely buy a snakewood uke because it looks so beautiful. If I had a choice, I'd probably opt for a top wood that is relatively dense because I like the warm tone from that end of the spectrum versus the twangier spruce.
Click to expand...

In theory, a dense wood for back and sides is better to reflect the sound back to the top, so snakewood "might" be considered an upgrade for sound. I couldn't tell you how much difference it makes in practice, but it will sure make it look nice.
 
Ukecaster said:
Never heard of it, but it looks cool. Extremely dense at 3800 on Janka scale. By contrast, mahogany is 900. Easy to see where it got its name. Wood-database.com says: "As a rare and small tree, prices for surfaced and milled Snakewood that display the characteristic snakeskin pattern are perhaps the most expensive of any exotic lumber worldwide in terms of per-boardfoot cost."

https://www.wood-database.com/snakewood/

View attachment 125501

Snakewood on a Lichty guitar fretboard

View attachment 125502
Click to expand...

It really does look amazing. I’m not sure how I feel with that dense of a tone wood, but the rarity draws me in. I think I’m going to go for it.
 
Ed1 said:
Regarding the top, Taiwania, acording to Wikipedia is an Asian Cedar that is considered a "vulnerable" (mildly threatened) species. Also, an article on it ( https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10086-006-0819-y.pdf ) puts its hardness and strength in between cedar and spruce, so it's right there with other great tops for ukes.
Click to expand...

Wow, it seems pretty much perfect honestly. Especially since it is a lot prettier than cedar or spruce, at least to my eyes.
 
glennerd said:
In theory, a dense wood for back and sides is better to reflect the sound back to the top, so snakewood "might" be considered an upgrade for sound. I couldn't tell you how much difference it makes in practice, but it will sure make it look nice.
Click to expand...

That is a good point. Perhaps the snakewood will truly bring out the tone of the Taiwania top that I now understand is a fantastic top.
 
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