A GREAT TONEWOOD FOUND

WHEN I first strung up tenor # 62  three weeks ago I was quite disappointed.  It sounded kind of dull and clunky.  It's juniper top seemed to be a dud.  Now I am both delighted and amazed.  It has become my favorite instrument.  Its tone has matured with each playing in an absolutely amazing fashion.  It has improved with the playing more than any ukulele that I have made.  I can only imagine how great it is going to be.
Today I met and spent several hours with a true tree expert, John Wesselink.  I learned that this is not Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) as I had thought, but a close relative called  Seaside Juniper (Juniperus Maritima) that is native to a small area including the San Juan Islands of Washington.  He sent me several links to scientific papers regarding this species and pointed out that one of them mentioned a maximum growth ring count of 210.  That got me curious about my wood and I got out the microscope to age this chunk of a branch cut from a tree on San Juan Island last summer.

And here is the result, an amazing 391 growth rings.  This wood was taken from a branch that had left the main trunk about six feet from the ground-meaning that the tree had grown at least six feet before the branch recorded it's first growth ring.  I think it safe to add at least four more years to its age.  Make it 395 years old.  This Juniper began its growth in 1620, just 13 years after the first English  Pilgrims landed in Jamestown.  Imagine! The tree it came from is still growing and healthy.
The really good news is that I have enough of this remarkable wood to make another twenty tenor ukuleles.