Ukulele Beginners - Wood types and their influence on sound

In your hunt to purchase a ukulele you will have noticed that there are a variety of different wood types you can buy - but how do they affect the sound?

In this guide I will give you my views on how the wood used in a ukulele affects the sound. This is in respect (in the main) of solid top instruments, not laminates. Laminates do vary by wood type, but the differences tend to be more in respect of how good a quality laminate it is. Solid woods though can have a big impact on the sound of the instrument.

(for more on woods - see my guides on wood here - Ukulele wood & More about ukulele wood )

Firstly, there is no right and wrong when it comes to wood types, and there is certainly no "best" wood.  All woods differ and they sound they make has also got to be something you like the sound of.  What sounds best to your ears may be different to mine.  That said, I list below some of the main wood types you will encounter when ukulele shopping and their common characteristics.

MAHOGANY

One of the most common woods in ukulele making, it has a reasonable grain finish providing good looks, but provides a good balance between the bright trebly sounds the ukulele is famous for, whilst beefing up the bass sounds a little too. Also projects sound well with good volume. Its also cheaper than many other tonewoods, and as such provides, in my opinion, the best value for quality.

KOA

Koa is a Hawaiian hardwood, and a ukulele wood held in very high esteem in those islands. The wood is beautiful to look at with amazing grains (particularly the curly variety), and provides a sound that suits the ukulele perfectly. Very sweet sounding and warm. Loud rich, and used in the finest ukuleles, but very expensive. Koa instrument prices show the premium!

CEDAR

A common, reddish soft wood often used in acoustic guitars, cedar has a plain finish, and provides a very warm sound, evenly distributed amongst the strings. To my ear, a little too muddy sounding for the ukulele for which I appreciate a bit more treble, but a good wood nonetheless.

SPRUCE

A very common, pale yellow wood used in guitar manufacture. Now seen on many cheaper ukuleles on the top only (usually with rosewood or mahogany backs and sides). It is a tough wood that makes for excellent strong soundboards and the Sitka variety is characterised by a very bright and rich tone, with less of the bass rounding that Mahogany provides. They are also very loud woods, but a touch TOO bright for my ears. Engelmann spruce is a slightly more mellow version which is often used in classical instruments.

MAPLE

A hard, resilient wood that is often chosen for its dramatic looks, particularly flamed or spalted woods that are stunning to look at. It provides a very very bright tone on the ukulele.

MANGO

A beautiful looking, orange wood with beautiful grain, that is used increasingly as a more sustainable wood choice (as Mango is a fruit tree, the wood is harvested after the tree is no longer efficiently producing fruit, and is then replanted). Mango provides a warm yet bright tone, similar to walnut.

OTHERS

The woods above are amongst the most common you will find, but there are many others, each with differing properties (too many to go into in this beginners guide!) including Bubinga, Acacia, Lacewood and Myrtle. If you are going into the exotic wood direction, speak to a maker and ask opinions on sound, or better still, play before you buy.

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Ukulele beginners tips - All about wood - not all ukuleles are equal

Beyond brand names and sizes probably the most talked about topic when it comes to ukulele is the wood they are made of. In fact, when you are on the path to buying your first uke, you will probably find your mind boggled at the choices.

The differences in wood discussions (and tonally, we are referring to the wood the body is made of) will tend to be either whether it's solid or laminate or what type of wood it is.

SOLID V LAMINATE

this refers to the thin pieces of wood that make up the top, back and sides of the body of the ukulele. In simple terms, solid wood is just that, a thin slice of wood taken in one piece, and laminate refers to thin veneers of wood glued together in a sandwich like plywood.

Solid wood will unarguably give you the better sweeter sound, and in many cases better volume. Without getting too techy its simply that the solid piece resonates and sings better than laminated wood.

Solid wood instruments are also much more expensive, so you will find the vast majority of cheap (under £100) instruments will be either all or part laminate (you can get instruments with solid tops but laminate back and sides which is a kind of halfway house)

The cheapest all solid wood instrument that I would recommend are those made by Brüko.

So is solid better? Well I'd have to say yes, and the expensive top end instruments are all solid. That said, if you are a beginner there are some great laminate instruments like the Lanikai range and the Makalas. Additionally (to confuse further) the superb instruments made by Fluke are actually laminate wood tops, but they get their signature sound from the design and plastic backs (more on that later)

TYPES OF WOOD

beyond the solid vs laminate discussion, you will also want to consider the type of wood. To be perfectly honest I think this is very subjective, wood type does change sound, but for better or worse depends totally on your ears - you need to try them out!

Also, at the very cheap end, with all laminates I'd argue that you don't need to worry at all.

If you are going solid though i suppose the most common wood is mahogany. As well as looking great, it gives a lovely warm tone. Other include spruce (bright tone) cedar and the traditional wood for ukuleles, koa. (be aware, solid koa instruments are hugely expensive!). You may also find woods like mango and acacia.

This player can't tell you what sounds good, or what looks nice to you ( these different woods all look totally different!) so have a play yourself.

If you are beginning and finding it difficult i think you really can't go wrong with mahogany though. Sounds good , looks good and is not too expensive.

OTHER THOUGHTS

other than the above which is mainly concerned with tone, you will find other woods for necks and fingerboards but these are just cosmetic factors.

Further confusion comes in plastic backed bodies like flea, fluke, applause and dolphins ( works very well in projecting sound) carbon fibre bodies, cigar box bodies but I suppose they are for another thread!

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Mainland Mahogany Concert - Slotted Headstock model - review

Hot on the heels of my Flea review, whilst I have posted pics of my beloved Mainland (and raved about it), I noted I had not provided a detailed review.

The background to Mainland is quite interesting - they are assembled in the USA by hand by Hoosier Mikes (from Ukulele Underground) team in Nashville Indiana.  The parts though are made and shaped in the far east in the same production facilities as many other mid level ukes such as Ohana I believe.  Mike used to be the man at Bushman Ukuleles, (which still exist I think) but he went it alone.

What he has provided though is a range of beautifully finished all solid ukuleles at a great price point that I personally would argue is hard to match for the money.

I had read so many good things that I placed my order from the only UK Mainland dealer - the very nice people at Eagle Music in Huddersfield.  I opted for the Concert scale uke, and for something a little classier the slotted traditional headstock with backwards facing tuners.  Was £179, though I think its a touch cheaper if you go for a standard headstock.

On opening the box it was clear that this was a lovely instrument.  The Mahogany finish is wonderful, deep grained with a kind of 3D shimmer effect to it.  The colour just glows a lovely dark orangey brown.  the top and back have a white bound edge, and the top is finished with Mainlands trademark ropework finish around the edge and sound hole.  Some love this, some hate it, but I usually find that those that dislike it have seen trade pictures that make it look a stark black and white - it isnt - the white is very creamy and the whole thing looks mellow.

The neck is wonderfully finished and the fingerboard is a beautiful smooth dark wood that just looks quality.  Frets are nicely finished too.  I think the saddle and nut are bone which is a nice touch.

Headstock as I say is slotted design with rear facing geared tuners with pearloid buttons.  If you order from Mainland you can specify exactly what you want down to button colour for no, or little extra cost which is cool.  The tuners are nice quality and hold well.  Mainland logo is on the headstock in similar ropework finish, but if I am honest, it looks a little pale on the mahogany background - could do with standing out a bit more.

To hold and play, the uke is very comfortable and a nice weight.  The extra scale in the concert neck is nice to play on, and the action and intonation was absolutely spot on everywhere - NO complaints here.

Came strung with Aquilas which are obviously nice, but to be honest, I dont think a sweet solid instrument benefits from these butch strings that well.  As you will read elsewhere on the blog, I have been playing around with string types on the mainland and seem to have now settled on the new edition Martin Flourocarbons - they give the nicest balance to my ears between volume and sweet chiming sound.

And that sound is what I really like about the Mainland - and what sets well made all solid instruments apart from the cheaper end - the sound is just really sweet and rings - nice sustain (yes, sustain - on a ukulele) but real bell like chimes from it.

I've found myself getting very precious about this uke - certainly not a uke I would take to the pub for a jamming session - I polish it too much (how sad) - but then it has its place - this is my "sit down when the house is quiet and relax with my uke" ukulele!

It therefore comes totally, 100%, no ifs buts or maybes recommended from me.  If you are looking for a step up from a beginner uke, or just a uke in the £150 -£200 price bracket, you would be daft to ignore these.

Keep an eye on the Mainland Site too, as Mike is introducing new models, new wood types and shapes - all look nice.  I hear the red cedar models are lovely too!

SCORES

Looks - 8.5

Fit and finish - 7.5

Sound - 8

Value for money - 9

OVERALL - 8.3

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Ukulele beginners tips - When is wood, you know, SOLID??

Something has been bothering me for quite a while - in fact in all the time I have been buying guitars, let alone ukuleles, and that something didn't change when I bought my first uke. In fact I just saw that the confusion (and the potential rip-off) continue.

If you are new to stringed instruments in this family, and are looking to buy a uke, you may notice listings making reference to "solid" wood, "solid tops", "all solid" and the like - but are people who are new to the instrument clear on what is being sold here? - worse still is there some misrepresentation going on?

The basics of wooden ukes ( as with wooden acoustic guitars) is this - the wood that makes the instrument is either an actual thin slice of solid wood, or it is a laminate of lots and lots of thin pieces of wood with a nice looking veneer on the outer visible edge. This applies to the wood on the soundboard or top (the piece with the hole in it!) , the sides of the body, and the back.

The general difference in most wooden instruments is that a solid piece of wood is by far the best, and laminate is worst. I say general, as this is also dependent on the type of wood and type of instrument, but for the purposes of a general buyers guide, it is generally accepted that top quality is "all solid top, back and sides", medium is "solid top" and the cheaper end is "laminate all over".

The other thing is of course price, as all solid instruments cost a good deal more than laminates - and I fully appreciate that we all have to cut our cloth accordingly, and and for some, a laminate may be the only option (I am not knocking laminates - I own some!!)

But what really concerns me is where ukes are advertised, a(nd I have to say, ebay is mainly the culprit), where the description of the woods is less than clear.

I recently saw a baritone uke for sale on ebay at what was an inflated price compared to what it could be bought for in a store, but worse still, the seller had it listed as a solid mahogany wood uke, despite it clearly being a laminate top and body model. I was so annoyed that I emailed the buyer to point out that his listing was incorrect, and he replied saying it was a laminate of sheets of mahogany, and therefore it was all mahogany, and therefore solid mahogany...... !!!!? The item sold, - total rip-off.

But the manufacturer websites don't help either - and nothing annoys me more than those that don't say whether the instruments are solid or not. Many do it, and I don't understand why.

I stress again, buying an instrument that isn't totally solid is NOT a bad thing, but you should be clear what you are buying, whatever you buy - surely?

Therefore - do take care - if you see a bargain uke at anything under £100 - £150 claiming to be all solid wood I would exercise some caution (not rule it out totally, just be cautious)

I am often asked how to tell if the instrument is solid if you get to actually hold it - it isn't totally straightforward, but some tips:

• On a solid top instrument, you should be able to look at the edge of the inside of the soundhole and see whether the grains on outer edge run "through" the wood. Imagine looking end on at a thick piece of wood such as a skirting board - the grain would run through - it is no different on a guitar top - just thinner! On a cheap laminate, you should be able to see the laminated layers of wood. Things get tricky if the top or inside of soundhole is painted . This is sometimes a case of the maker trying to hide the laminate, but not always! - Bruko put a binding on the inside of their sound holes (but then again, to be fair to Bruko, they advertise their instruments as all solid woods, and they are not lying - great solid Ukes!)
• For the back and sides - if you can see the outer grain through varnish - look inside the instrument with a torch - do the grains on the inside match the patterns on the outside - if they do - a pretty good sign it is solid back or sides. The very cheapest laminated backs and sides have grains going in opposite directions!

Anyway - rant over, but I do get annoyed at limited information for new buyers - always remember, buyer beware, and if a deal seems too good to be true, it "probably" is...

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