Tenor Concert Ukulele
Jack has his Black Koa Tenor Ukulele, but wanted a Concert Ukulele with a wide neck. I was not comfortable with his desire for a concert scale though, so I nudged him in the direction of a concert ukulele but with a tenor scale–a Tenor Concert Ukulele. I also did not think that making a longish body to accommodate the longer scale was a necessity so I planned and instrument with a standard concert ukulele pattern. Originally I planned a 15 fret-to-body union in order to more center the bridge on the sound board but then felt that the instrument was visually out of balance in appearance, so I went back to the usual 14 fret-to-body layout.
Everything about this Tenor Concert Ukulele was to be a little different. Jack chose this particular set of Curly Hawaiian Mango Wood for the body and specifically requested the addition of the Petroglyph Laser Cut Backstrip as well. The rest of the details he left up to me.
The binding is India Rosewood with a black/red purfling and sound hole rosette. I had planned on a red curly maple neck but then felt this might not be too manly and a black curly maple neck just didn’t look right, so I opted for this unusual African Wenge neck. It is unusual because this is not a wood that might normally be used for a neck since it is tough to shape and a bit on the dense side. It does have a great tap tone though. I was concerned that the longer, wider neck and the weight of the wood might make this tenor concert ukulele a bit head heavy but was surprised that this was not the case when I played the finished instrument. The browns and blacks of this wood worked well with the colors of the mango. The accent wood is Indonesian Black Palm.
Jack already has his low “G” tenor Hawaiian Koa and was adamant about high “G” on this instrument. I’ve always had good player response with Mango wood but was very surprised at how bright and responsive this instrument is. I’d say that this tenor concert ukulele is an interesting and playable combination of the two. No rules! Go Jack!
