YOU MAY RECALL a few posts back that my client had chosen the Rocky Mountain Juniper for the back of his tenor made of Northwest woods. Yesterday he came by at my invitation and changed his mind. Since none of us had ever heard of a Juniper Uke, and because I had bought some beautiful Claro Walnut on my visit to Notable Woods, he decided to switch to a cedar topped Claro Walnut uke. I am delighted because I am itching to make an instrument from this beautiful and interesting wood, and I know that walnut makes a great uke. I have lots of plain walnut, and have used it frequently to make fine sounding ukes, BUT this "Claro" walnut from the Willamette Valley of Oregon is something special. Today I glued up the bookmatched pieces. Look at the subtle color changes in its vertical stripes. It also has nice cross grain figure that does not show well in this photo, but trust me, when it is finished this will be a lovely back. The sides are very nicely figured Claro and the top will be some of my 400+ growth ring Cedar. The neck will be Honduran Mahog. the fret board , Honduran Rosewood with gold hued frets, the rosette my signature spalted maple and the peg head will be the same. The bindings will be rosewood with a black white black purfling. I expect this to be a really lovely instrument with great sound.
 Another application of dilute shellac, One more and I will be adding the bridge and tuners. They are really beginning to shine. French Polish is fun to apply if you have plenty of time. Today was probably my 25th application. |  I wear the rubber gloves not to keep my hands clean but to avoid scratching the gradually improving finish with my nails |
