I THINK I shall call this third tenor "The Native" because it is all made of local woods native to my home in the Pacific Northwest. the back and sides are made of highly figured "fiddle-back" or "tiger-stripe" big leaf maple.
The neck made of American Black Walnut from a tree that grew on Dupont st. and was planted in the late 1800's in early Bellingham. The soundboard is Rocky Mountain Juniper that I salvaged 35 years ago from a juniper that had fallen to the shoreline of Orcas Island in a rock slide. It is lovely tight grained wood with a cedary odor and 560 growth rings across the lower bout. The fretboard is the Pacific Yew that I wrote about last night.
The neck made of American Black Walnut from a tree that grew on Dupont st. and was planted in the late 1800's in early Bellingham. The soundboard is Rocky Mountain Juniper that I salvaged 35 years ago from a juniper that had fallen to the shoreline of Orcas Island in a rock slide. It is lovely tight grained wood with a cedary odor and 560 growth rings across the lower bout. The fretboard is the Pacific Yew that I wrote about last night.
I am really like the looks of this very light colored instrument. I think when it is completed it will be gorgeous and the way it tap tones, I am hoping it will be a singer. I put golden hued frets on it, seemed to fit with the look. this one has a slight J radius meaning that the right side of the fretboard is slightly curved downward while the left side is flat. Might fit the human finger better. Oh! and I forgot to mention that those blond fret dots are made from the boxwood hedge that used to surround the back lot of our old home on Knox Ave. The hedge was very old and I got some very nice pieces of boxwood from it. It is an extremely tight and hard wood that has a definite yellow color. Matches very well with the Yew. |