YESTERDAY thousands of folks descended upon Fairhaven for the finish of Bellingham's legendary Sea To Ski Race. over 300 teams of 8 people, running, canoeing, kayaking, biking, skiing, It all ends in Fairhaven and these folks,weary from all the excitement are sitting with Dirty Dan watching the activities in the Fairhaven Village Green. A great successful and fun day.
An early finisher of the kayaking leg across Bellingham Bay hits the beach
We have lots of handsome bronze men to sit beside if you visit Fairhaven. Here three weary folks sit with J.J. Donovan. I hope that guy offered J.J. some kettle-corn
For all you smart folks that have signed up for the Ukulele Cruise in July, I took this photo of the Schooner Zodiac resting at her moorage waiting for us. She looks to be in perfect condition and is such a classicly beautiful vessel. This will be an unforgettable voyage. And for those of you undecided, it is too late, the trip is sold out. Ukuleles At Sea- what fun is that?
I spent a couple of hours today refining the neck snap with the tools pictured. Knife, scraper, bow sander and rounded sanding block. There is nothing more important in making uses than getting a neck that feels right in your hands. I whittle, sand and scrape until it feels right, there is no way to measure and mark such things. Ya gotta feel it.
This is an unabashed testimonial. I don't usually give them- but if you want a scraper this is the one to buy. They are sold by Stewart McDonald at what I thought was an outlandish price. Not so, it is just spectacularly good. It worked for me for months but this morning I sensed it was getting dull on the flat side. I was kind of afraid to try to sharpen it and had been putting it off for weeks. Today I did it. I followed the directions and took it to the fine grinding wheel and gently ran it over the grinder. i WAS ASTONISHED. one pass over the grinder and it was sharper than when I bought it. If you are a woodworker buy one of these- they are truly a great tool. So much better than any scraper I have used, and now-so easy to sharpen.
What is the best tonewood?. Today I got curious. These are my three favorite tenors. I put identical South Coast low G strings on each to level the playing field. They are each instruments that I have build from the same plan and dimension. From left to right, #67 with Juniper tone board, big leaf maple sides and back; #38 with Engelmann Spruce tone board and koa sides and back, and #27 with Western Red cedar tone board and curly koa sides and back.
After an hour of playing each and comparing their tone- here are my conclusions. The Cedar/koa has a deeper, perhaps richer tone in the low rangeson strings 3 and 4. It is a great strummer bringing stunningly rich sound to a chord but it is not noticeably sharp or crisp.
The Spruce/Koa is a lovely uke but compared to the other two seems a little dull. Not amazing highs, not amazing lows. I rank it #3. I guess I have to think that the juniper/maple uke has the overall best sound. Warm and rich lows and clear bell like highs. Clear is a word that seems to fit it, the sound is distinct and precise and yet still warm. I will continue this comparing for a while and report to you again, but for now I think the Juniper provides the best sound.
The Spruce/Koa is a lovely uke but compared to the other two seems a little dull. Not amazing highs, not amazing lows. I rank it #3. I guess I have to think that the juniper/maple uke has the overall best sound. Warm and rich lows and clear bell like highs. Clear is a word that seems to fit it, the sound is distinct and precise and yet still warm. I will continue this comparing for a while and report to you again, but for now I think the Juniper provides the best sound.
