Does Your Favorite Sounding Ukulele Have A Straight Grain?

[Ed1]

I Thought I'd ask the question more directly in the Thread Title so no one has to read below. This is the first time I've tried such a major edit on a thread. If you have a few ukuleles, is your favorite sounding one today, knowing it could change tomorrow, the one with a very straight, tight grain?

EVERYTHING ELSE BEING EQUAL ...

I'm still under the impression that a nice, tight, straight grain on a ukulele going the same direction as the strings gives the best sound. Am I wrong?

Do Mango and Cocobolo ukulele builders not care about quarter sawn boards? I understand why some folks might like the wilder visual patterns (kind of like some flat sawn oak planks on my floor), but I'm still under the impression that a nice, tight, straight grain going the same direction as the strings gives the best sound. Am I wrong?

I'm not trying to open a can or worms here. I'm simply curious if my impression over the years is wrong. If anyone with a few ukuleles can tell me that their favorite is something other than a quarter sawn (or at least looks quarter sawn) top, please let me know. Thanks

 

[ripock]

I am not a physicist but my instinct says you're wrong. I think you're making assumptions about how soundwaves travel that aren't correct. Don't ask me to explain because I cannot; it just seems that your thoughts about soundwaves are overly reductive.

 

[Nickie]

EVERYTHING ELSE BEING EQUAL ...

I'm still under the impression that a nice, tight, straight grain on a ukulele going the same direction as the strings gives the best sound. Am I wrong?

Do Mango and Cocobolo ukulele builders not care about quarter sawn boards? I understand why some folks might like the wilder visual patterns (kind of like some flat sawn oak planks on my floor), but I'm still under the impression that a nice, tight, straight grain going the same direction as the strings gives the best sound. Am I wrong?

I'm not trying to open a can or worms here. I'm simply curious if my impression over the years is wrong. If anyone with a few ukuleles can tell me that their favorite is something other than a quarter sawn (or at least looks quarter sawn) top, please let me know. Thanks

Well, it seems like a good can of worms to open....there's a lot of curiosity about wood and sound. Maybe one of our luthiers can answer? Wood technologist?

 

[Nickie]

I am not a physicist but my instinct says you're wrong. I think you're making assumptions about how soundwaves travel that aren't correct. Don't ask me to explain because I cannot; it just seems that your thoughts about soundwaves are overly reductive.

Huh? He didn't claim he had the truth, he stated that he was "under the impression."

 

[don_b]

This is an interesting topic, and now I'm wondering if anyone's seen an ukulele listed with quarter sawn, or any other kind of sawn. Not that it would prove anything. I'm not a wood expert, I probably couldn't tell the difference visibly unless it were obvious. But it would be interesting to see ukes listed with specific construction strategies, like you see with bracings. People like talking about bracings, ya know? Why not type of sawn.

 

[kerneltime]

Probably best posted to builders lounge. From what I remember reading quarter sawn is preferred for its stability and lack of splintering (where the bridge is glued) it is not for the sound potential per se but then again I don’t know anything about this topic just trying to regurgitate what I read online some time back

 

[PetalumaRescuke]

Have some nice old growth 1"X16"X6' redwood planks, I offered them to an experienced luthier, he said they would make a nice counter top, they were not quarter swan.

 

[BradDonaldson]

I believe the major reason for using quartersawn wood is for its greater stability when subjected to humidity changes. It will shrink or expand uniformly, while flat or skew cut wood will warp or cup, which is not a good thing in an instrument. Many people believe that wood is stiffer when oriented in a vertical grain configuration, but that many times is not the case.
Brad

 

[Brad Bordessa]

I doubt that it would be possible for a player to work out much of an objective difference between quarter sawn or other methods of chopping up the log.

People have been cutting trees for a long time. I sure would think that if there was a discernible/beneficial difference in other cut styles, it would have been tried and used by now.

And even if it does exist, 98.5% of people are not going to be able to tell - or care - myself included. There are so many other things to listen to that take precedence.

 

[Kenn2018]

Like others, I have read that quarter sawn logs provide the most interesting grain with excellent stability. Provided it is properly dried.

Some makers say that straight, tight grained wood is stronger and more stable than woods with curl and flame. And that its vibrations are tighter and more uniform. (The weakest are spalted woods.)

I suspect that there may be some advantages to a straight grain over a highly figured one. Both types will, with proper care, last for decades. My ear isn't good enough to tell the difference in sound. Especially since there are so many variables that contribute to the sound of an instrument.

I think the Luthiers Making a Difference (Luthiers for a Cause) video made the point that given nearly identical pieces of woods to make the body and top of a tenor ukulele. The six participating luthiers created six distinctly different sounding instruments. Which proved their point that the luthier does indeed make a difference.

I like the beauty of nice woods. Curl, flame, sap wood, even spalting. It can all be so wonderful to look at. Yet it's quite immaterial if it doesn't produce a sound I also enjoy.

 

[cdkrugjr]

The tricky bit being, “All other things being equal.” If truly “all other things” are equal, there’s a chance that a listener may hear a difference, but then good luck getting a human performer to give the Exact same performance twice in a row. Maybe they’re feeling the prettier grain more . . .

And naturally a good luthier is going to spent quite a bit of time fussing over the top bracing with the actual top in-hand, so that all of his tops have “the right response.”

Honestly the only thing that’s important is whether or not it inspires you to play more.

 

[Ed1]

An interesting discussion. To clarify some points of my OP:

• I understand there are reasons for liking a straight tight grain for structural reasons, especially humidity problems.
• I understand someone like Brad Donaldson could take my old shoes and make a better sounding ukulele than I or others who don't work with wood could make with a perfectly quarter sawn piece of wood.
• I understand that curl, flame, spalting can still have a nice, straight grain. Some of them are gorgeous!
• My reason for posting in this thread is because I was interested in what folks here think about their ukes and the sound differences.
• So far, Brad Bordessa figured out what I was asking and answered in that way. So Here's the question more directly stated:

If you have a few ukuleles, is your favorite sounding one today, knowing it could change tomorrow, the one with a very straight, tight grain?

 

[Ed1]

I've rewritten the op to ask the question directly: If you have a few ukuleles, is your favorite sounding one today, knowing it could change tomorrow, the one with a very straight, tight grain? I know there are a lot of folks here, including those who have already responded, who know a lot more about ukuleles than I do and have opinions I value. If many say their favorite sounding doesn't have a straight grain, it might change my opinion. I'm still, many years later, fascinated by how different ukuleles can sound.

 

[Cadia]

I've rewritten the op to ask the question directly: If you have a few ukuleles, is your favorite sounding one today, knowing it could change tomorrow, the one with a very straight, tight grain? I know there are a lot of folks here, including those who have already responded, who know a lot more about ukuleles than I do and have opinions I value. If many say their favorite sounding doesn't have a straight grain, it might change my opinion. I'm still, many years later, fascinated by how different ukuleles can sound.

I don't have one favorite, I have several. Some of those have nice straight tight grain, some of them don't. I think the build comes very much into play, so all things are not equal between them.

 

[SebastianF]

I don't have one favorite, I have several. Some of those have nice straight tight grain, some of them don't. I think the build comes very much into play, so all things are not equal between them.

Same for me. As for the build, someone already mentioned the Luthiers for a Cause projects which showcased this nicely.

As you wrote yourself, there is a lot of variety in sound and also variety in what people prefer to hear. And at the same time there are so many variables in wood itself, for some you could probably get much of the same sound with a top from a piece of tonewood A with thickness X (super curly and no straight grain) as you do with a pice of tonewood B of thickness Y (no curl and straight grain) with all other aspects of the build fixed.

 

[Poul Hansen]

I can't say. All of my ukuleles have straight tight grain. I wouldn't buy them if they didn't ;-)

 

[captain-janeway]

It may be is the wood soft or hard. My mahogany and cedar ukes are both straight grain, but I don't know if they sound different because one has a tighter grain than the other or the woods softer.
If the ukes had identical builds I think the cedar would still sound deeper
I hope this is what you were asking.

 

[Ed1]

I can't say. All of my ukuleles have straight tight grain. I wouldn't buy them if they didn't ;-)

Yep, this has always been my approach for various reasons. Even my two travel HPL's had a straight grain . However, I was curious if I were missing something not being willing to look past my "belief" in straight, tight grains.

I noticed that some folks don't want to choose between their "children." This thread wasn't meant to be a Sophie's Choice. I was just interested at this very moment which uke was the one they thought sounded best. Just as if you had to say which of your children had the better voice in your opinion at this time. I know that wouldn't be hard to do with my kids or grandkids, even if I wouldn't tell the grandkids directly.

 

[Canada Jim]

Most of my stringed instruments have quarter sawn spruce or cedar tops, a couple of ukes with quarter sawn mahogany tops. The backs and sides are not always quarter sawn. My Martin guitar has quarter sawn rosewood, my Goya has slab sawn flame maple. I'll admit that the slab cuts are much more attractive than the quarter sawn, but it's hard to tell about the sound difference.
Here are two rosewood guitar backs, one slab cut and one quarter sawn:

Quarter sawn rosewood:


Slab cut rosewood:

 

[Voran]

Hard to say because my favorite ukulele changes with my mood. Sometimes my favorite is the more warm sounding 5-stringer. Sometimes my favorite is the hard glassy soprano. Sometimes my favorite is tiny Nolyako with her high, slightly harsh, insectile sound.

Best projection is definitely Nolyako despite her minute size, and yes, she has a tight, straight grain.