A question about a girl from Oregon

dow

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Yep, I'm asking about Myrtle, šŸ¤£

Sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself.

I'm in the process of having a baritone uke made from Myrtle, and I was curious if anybody had an opinion of whether to go with a myrtle soundboard or one made from Port Orford Cedar. The builder prefers POC, but the all myrtle I've seen online sure look good.

I realize that comparing in print the way different instruments sound can be hazy at best, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

So any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
Yep, I'm asking about Myrtle, šŸ¤£

Sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself.

I'm in the process of having a baritone uke made from Myrtle, and I was curious if anybody had an opinion of whether to go with a myrtle soundboard or one made from Port Orford Cedar. The builder prefers POC, but the all myrtle I've seen online sure look good.

I realize that comparing in print the way different instruments sound can be hazy at best, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

So any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Myrtle would be closer to all Koa baritone and PoC would be closed to spruce/cedar.. it is between you and the builder, if you have a stronger preference for sound or looks..
 
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I recently received a custom-built tenor with walnut back and sides and Port Orford Cedar top. It sounds really nice. I think the top accounts for most of the tone. Here's the builder's sample video:
 
I've got an all-myrtle six string baritone and I think it sounds great. I don't have particularly strong feelings about tonewoods, though. There are certain sounds I avoid but I'm not sure they're entirely dependent just on woods.
 
Yep, I'm asking about Myrtle, šŸ¤£

Sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself.

I'm in the process of having a baritone uke made from Myrtle, and I was curious if anybody had an opinion of whether to go with a myrtle soundboard or one made from Port Orford Cedar. The builder prefers POC, but the all myrtle I've seen online sure look good.

I realize that comparing in print the way different instruments sound can be hazy at best, but I figured I'd ask anyway.

So any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Who's the builder ?
What type music do you play ?
 
Jazz and basic noodling. I like playing along with most anything, and since my shoulder surgery the reach of a standard guitar is... uncomfortable. So a while back I picked up a tenor, and while I really love it, I miss the lower notes of a guitar. So I'm going to give a baritone a shot. Maybe if I enjoy playing it, I might try a six string down the road.

Builder is Kelali.
 
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Jazz and basic noodling. I like playing along with most anything, and since my shoulder surgery the reach of a standard guitar is... uncomfortable. So a while back I picked up a tenor, and while I really love it, I miss the lower notes of a guitar. So I'm going to give a baritone a shot. Maybe if I enjoy playing it, I might try a six string down the road.

Builder is Kelali.
In the meantime, have you tried bari-tenor strings on your tenor uke?
 
A couple thoughts about wood choices. I have commissioned a few custom builds and I always value the builders feedback. But it is your money and you should get what you want. Looks can be important BUT I have never sold an instrument that sounded great but didnā€™t look as pretty as I wanted. I have sold beautiful looking ukes that didnā€™t have the tone I was looking for.

Also to consider, has the builder had experience with myrtle as a sound board before? Myrtle make a great sound board, Mya Moe used it all the time. Have an in depth discussion with your luthier about the type of music you play, preference on low or high G tuning, whether or not you sing and play and most importantly the sound characteristics you expect from the instrument. If looks are most important, not a bad thing, go with what you like .
 
Here is my (lovely!) all myrtle tenor from Beansprout. Number 651. So, same builder as Larry's POC/Walnut tenor above and made at basically the same time. If you listen with decent audio output I guess this situation is as close as you can get to making a meaningful comparison on those tonewoods using sound samples. But of course, these are tenors not baritones. There are plenty baritones with sound samples on the Beansprout site. Number 419 is all Myrtle. 569 has a POC top.

I already have a very nice spruce/walnut tenor from an English builder (Tinguitar) and I wanted something a bit different. Aaron suggested myrtle and we went for that. It is a bit warmer than my Tinguitar but it's a different builder with different strings.

Did the luthier say why they preferred a POC top? Was it their personal preference or where they responding to what they think you wanted acoustically?

Beansprout Myrtle Tenor
 
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