Does Your Favorite Sounding Ukulele Have A Straight Grain?

[DownUpDave]

Most of my ukuleles are custom built and those builders are use quarter sawn straight grain. For what it’s worth my favorite is my LfdM tenor with a straight, tight grain spruce top.

 

[ProfChris]

I'd expect to see vertical grain used for the top because it moves less with humidity. If you build using non-vertical grain, you have to allow the top to move more (eg by giving it more of a dome) - this means it will fall and rise more as humidity changes, thus making a larger change to the action at the 12th. Even using vertical grain, some instruments need a winter and summer saddle to cope with this. You'll definitely notice if your action rises or falls by 0.5mm at the 12th.

Vertical grain usually has a straight appearance, but not always - koa can show a lot of figure when cut with vertical grain, oak is usually very straight.

Sides tend to cup when bending if they are off the vertical, so sides usually are vertical grain and look straight as well.

Backs are a different matter - even if the back rises or falls 2 or 3 mm with humidity you probably won't even notice, so appearance can rule here.

In terms of sound from a top whose grain is off the vertical, I wouldn't necessarily expect a better or worse sound - it depends how the builder deals with it. Off-vertical grain tends to be less stiff side to side, which means it has to be braced differently to get a similar response from the top.

 

[mountain goat]

One of the things a segment of the world of ukulele owners like to do is to own instruments that have interesting or outstanding grain patterns. They can care more about this than the sound, and or some makers are able to get a good sounding uke while showcasing these grain patterns.

How do you get the best grain patterns? Quarter sawn wood is not always sympathetic to the best grain pattern, in some wood you may need to cut the wood at a different angle to get the best grain pattern.

Also some trees and planks are thin and need to be cut at various angles to harvest the most useable wood.

Quarter sawn wood is supposed to be the most stable format when compared to other cuts because of the way the grain lays and changes due to temperature and humidity changes. So it is the best cut to get a stable solid wood top. The issue being stability, not necessarily sound.

Ukuleles exist which do not have quarter sawn tops, but have very pretty tops and also sound good. Maybe they are more at risk of cracking because of the way the top is cut from the log, but they are seeming to last long enough to satisfy the ukulele owners.

In previous posts I have discussed Near and Far Field effects which are part of designing radio and TV and Microwave and WiFi antennas and are not often discussed in respect of sound. They relate to how many wavelengths the receiving antenna is from the energy source. The player of the ukulele is very close to the energy source, less than 1 wavelength for the lower frequencies, and is in the Near Field where there is a lot of reflection and refraction and the energy is hard to map dynamically. So 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. The player may detect a subjective difference based on musical taste.

So I conclude that using quarter sawn wood is about stability not sound. But I am no expert and wont waste time arguing if you want it to be about sound.

The cocobolo and mango instruments under discussion may need extra care to protect against cracking due to changes in environmental conditions, but getting repeatable scientific results about the sound may prove very difficult.

It is a good point to discuss. Maybe the reader should check out an internet search on Quarter Sawn vs Flat Sawn wood and then re-read the discussion with an appreciation of the difference.

Bill. whatever planet you're orbiting around...your posts totally trip me out.
either give me some of what you're having or perhaps i need another few drinks...

 

[rustydusty]

Coming from an acoustic guitar background, I prefer a tight grained spruce or cedar top. It might not be as pretty as some other woods, but I buy for sound not looks. That being said, I haven’t tried a lot of other ukes...

 

[Voran]

I second spruce. Spruce is bomb for volume and zing. Nolyako is spruce and rosewood.

 

[Kenn2018]

Ah, I misinterpreted what you were asking.
Yes, and no.
I have three Spruce/Rosewood tenors I like a lot that have very tight straight-grained spruce and Rosewood.
Ditto the Cedar-topped tenors.
In fact, all of my foavorites hat have Spruce, Cedar or Redwood tops, the soundboards have very tight straight grains.

But, I have highly-figured Mahogany tenors I love.
A highly-figured solid Myrtle tenor that is terrific.
And ALL of my favorite Koa tenors are highly-figured, with curl, flame, whorls and some sap wood. With only one exception: A MyaMoe solid tenor that is straight grained with some minor cross curl.

I believe the tighter and straighter the grain in a soft top wood is preferable. That trait seems to produce the clearest, crispest notes. With great sustain and note separation. (Gross generality alert!)
I'm still undecided about Torrefied and Sinker tops, because my sample pool is very limited.

As far as the body goes, I'm not convinced that straight or figured is an important characteristic for shaping the sound. Its importance to me is in its inherent beauty.