Your Favorite Ukulele Woods Not Koa, Mahogany, Spruce or Cedar?

I have to wonder if people read the title or opening post correctly. The OP was specifically asking for examples of ukes NOT made out of those woods mentioned in the title.
 
My Cocobolo concert has been my most loved & played uke this past year. Cocobolo is a member of the Dalbergia family, as is Brazilian Rosewood.
 
With cocobolo being denser and harder than rosewood and some ebony, the way folks like their Cocobolo shows how a good builder who knows his woods can create a great sounding instrument. Acacia has over a thousand species. Some woods like Sinker Redwood can vary quite a bit. Other woods, including koa (which is just one species) also vary a lot from board to board.

Knowing this, I'm glad many of you answered the question by naming a specific uke. Some did answer the question that way and those who didn't still gave me something to think about; If I go to a builder for my next uke, I'll spend a little more time with http://tonewooddatasource.weebly.com/, learning about some of these woods.
 
Knowing this, I'm glad many of you answered the question by naming a specific uke. Some did answer the question that way and those who didn't still gave me something to think about; If I go to a builder for my next uke, I'll spend a little more time with http://tonewooddatasource.weebly.com/, learning about some of these woods.

With that in mind, once you've narrowed this down further, a helpful (if perhaps obvious!) path forward would be to consider the overall results of your short-list tonewoods in specific builders' hands.

Meaning, I love my Rebel Concert in Acacia, but would not begin to recommend "Acacia" to someone else based on that alone. I honestly have no idea how much the wood itself has to do with the happy impression I have of this instrument, or how the same wood would sound in a different ukulele build.

Similarly, my Mango Rebel Soprano is a keeper ("sweet" seems such a generic, oft-applied descriptor when it comes to Mango's tones, but it really does fit), but again: I love this specific ukulele, built as it is, and don't have objectivity to recommend the same wood on other ukuleles (other than the Koaloha and Opio instruments which share the same lineage and outlook, so I'd venture would at least be similar).

My upcoming Beansprout will feature a Port Orford Cedar top (cypress family, actually) over walnut.
Why? I love Aaron Keim's now-many examples of the same -- visually and sonically- -- trust his recommendations, and am smitten by the looks of how he has historically arranged these wood grains within each piece and in juxtaposition.

An objective, well-researched source of information on various wood types, etc. can only help, but from there: look for those who have demonstrated the ability to make the most of the presenting qualities that appeal to you.

Have fun!

:)

~ S.
 
The builder matters more than the wood. That said, solid maple ukuleles can be surprisingly sweet (not very loud) and sound like sweet butter..

While I replied to OP, saying that my favorite right now is walnut, I do think that the first sentence here is the more important answer. "The builder matters more than the wood." (And maple is a great choice of wood, too.) I'm sure that the builder of my walnut ukulele is a primary reason I love it.

If OP plans on having one built, vs. buying off the shelf, it would probably be good to get sound samples from builders that interest the OP, and hear what their version of a ukulele with various woods sound like, and make the decision from there.

But it's fun hearing all the answers, and I'm reminding myself that I don't have UAS. :)
 
I'll go with sinker redwood only because thats what I ended up with on my tenor. I actually prefer it without the dark stripes that it is known for. For back and side woods, I have Australian Blackwood on this uke and African Blackwood on my Classical Guitar. I'm not sure if it would sound any different with rosewood or another wood, but I'm happy with it.
Here's a stock image of my tenor
IMG_2097.jpg
 
One of my favourite ukes is made of lacewood and holly.

I like the way it plays and because of my friendship with its builder. I believe it was the last one he ever made before his retirement.
 
I edited my earlier reply and added a photo.

I saw and listened to a Pete Howlett tenor recently that was made from the English Yew tree. Nice sound to it.

A great resource for ideas is the UkuleleFriend.com website. The Ukulele Archives has hundreds of mouthwatering exceptional ukuleles made by some of the best luthiers in the world. Lots of different wood combinations and designs are there for inspiration. Even sound clips for many of them.
 
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My best uke has a King Billy pine (athrotaxis selaginoides) top with silver wattle (acacia dealbata) back and sides. My second-best one is mango.
 
My Brueko walnut soprano purchased here in the Marketplace is lovely to look at and to play. Mine has the walnut stripe down the maple fretboard.
 
Spalted of any kind. I have a spalted mango with flame mango made for me by Bruce Wei Arts in Vietnam, very nice out of the ordinary design.

Spalted done montage 800.jpg



This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
8 tenor cutaway ukes, 4 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 36)

Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
Member The CC Strummers: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Is this some kind of resonator ukes? Its really different looking.
 
For tops, I'm drawn to Spruce (Red, Sitka, Engelmann). I've had spotty luck with redwood and cedar.

Back and sides, I think it matters less as long as it is a hard dense wood. Rosewood and Mahogany are on a few of my instruments. But there are so many good choices (Ziricote, Colobolo, Katalox, Myrtle, Maple, Walnut, Sycamore, ....). Surprisingly, Mango has also worked out well on a couple ukes for me, as well.
 
Since many regular posters answered the question, I have summarized the answers below. I only took the first wood each mentioned. Here are the number of times for each wood:

4 mango
4 acacia
3 walnut
2 sycamore
2 myrtle
2 redwood
1 maple
1 London plane
1 cherry
1 cocobolo
1 lacewood
1 King Billy pine
 
I'll throw in. Outside of the woods to be eliminated in the original post, I have an Ohana all-solid (sinker) redwood/rosewood, an Ohana all-solid acacia, a Rebel all-solid mango and a Bonanza all-solid cherry. I think the one whose sound separates itself from the others the most would be the mango. I haven't played it enough to get a real bead on the sound yet but my initial impression is that it has a dryer, more woody sound, not quite as chime-y. They all sound great and there are really no stark/big differences in the sounds when played side by side. I'd call the differences subtle. I'd reach for any one of them just as soon as I would any of the others. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably go with the acacia. (Which also happens to be the most pretty/handsome of the four.)
 
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