Pear wood for ukulele body

RickDangerous

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Hi!
I decided to take up a challenge and built my own ukulele. I am good with the shape, string and stuff but I am not very confident about the material. I need something unique. I was thinking about pear but I am not convinced. Do you have any ideas? What unique wood could I use? I was opting for fruit trees but perhaps I am totally wrong in that aspect.
 
Hi Rick! There's a whole subforum on here for builders, you might want to check it out:

https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/forumdisplay.php?30-Ukulele-Building-Luthier-s-Lounge

I haven't built from pear but I've used it for other projects and it would do great for a uke body or neck. It's similar in it's qualities (stiffness, density, workability) to many commonly used hardwoods. Fruit woods in general are usually good to work with, although for instrument building you need to be mindful about quality of the lumber - specifically, choosing wood with good straight grain, as little runout as possible, and few defects. Wood with a lot of runout, crazy grain, knots, or other defects can be challenging, especially on the sides (since it'll be hard to bend) or for the neck (you want stable, straight grained wood for the neck).
 
I had my most recent uke built from silver wattle and king billy pine. It turned out great. It's worth a try experimenting with more unusual tone woods.
 
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