I have been working on these three tenors since the 9th of March. All three have koa backs and sides, Two have soundboards of my marvelous tight grained cedar, one a top of bear claw Englemann Spruce. All three have radiused fret boards, all three are very pretty and I will be kind of sorry to see them go to new homes.
Another few applications of French Polish and I will be glueing on the bridges. In the meantime I will tell you more about these beauties, I think the best Ukes that I have built. I will describe one each day on the blog. Today I will introduce you to "The Patrick" so named because it has already been purchased by Patrick Madsen. Patrick already owns one of my tenors and a "Pinecone" soprano as well. He is eagerly awaiting delivery of "The Patrick" which he has ordered equipped with Southcoast strings and gold Gotah geared tuners..
Meet "Patrick"; The sound board is Western Red Cedar of amazing quality that I cut from a log 50 years ago. There are 352 growth rings across the lower bout. The tone should be rich ,strong and mellow.
The rosette is made of small pieces of light koa, the ebony fret board and frets are curved in a 12 foot radius for better playability.
The rosette is made of small pieces of light koa, the ebony fret board and frets are curved in a 12 foot radius for better playability.
The koa sides are accented with a rosewood binding further accented by a thin Black/white/black strip. The Neck is Honduran Mahogany with an ebony toe cap. Note the graceful curve in the foot, I love to carve this feature and it must be just right.
Now you can see the black/white/black detail on the binding, the angle and shape of the neck. This uke has "gold" Ivo frets and will have gold tuners and buffalo bone nut and saddle.
And here is the back, a very pretty bookmatched koa.
Patrick Madsen , you are going to Love it.
Patrick Madsen , you are going to Love it.
