The ANSWER. This 100 year old water tank is made of wonderful redwood. Some of you know that I have ordered a ukulele from Eric Devine. It will have mastergrade curly koa back and sides and a redwood soundboard. I chose the wood when I was on Maui last year, and I selected an impossibly tight grained redwood top that Eric got from a tank just like this a couple of years ago. He read about the sale of redwood staves from an old watertank in Craigs list. He found three long staves that were sound, perfectly quarter-sawn and excellent in every way, and has used them to make some sweet sounding instruments.
I drove by this tank on the way to the O'o farm and just had to stop and investigate. Sure enough, the tank is redwood and many of the staves look to be excellent wood. It is not in use, could be turned to a higher purpose so I will tell Eric about it when I go to his workshop in the next couple of days.
I will be posting pictures of Eric, his workshop, and hopefully my very own Eric Devine "Muse" tenor ukulele in some early stage of development. Am I excited, you bet.
