Blond Curly Koa Custom Tenor Ukulele

Personally, I think Blonds can have more fun.  Here’s a Blond Curly Koa custom tenor ukulele just delivered to Hale Ukulele in San Diego.I love the look of blond curly koa.  Yeah, there’s some dark roots showing but hey, I’m not that picky.  I’ve added my Plumeria Flower Inlay for accent and combined that with Blue Paua Abalone Purfling.  The inlay is made from White Mother-of-Pearl and Paua Abalone.In addition, I went whole hog and used some Dark Curly Koa for binding.  You may notice that this set is not a perfect match between sides and top/back but I felt that it was close enough in colors that they worked well together and the slightly darker sides may actually add to the visual impact of this instrument.  This blond curly koa is salvage from the big island of Hawaii and is provided to me by Allied Lutherie of Healdsburg, California.  Hey, beggars can’t be choosers!  I could build with this blond curly koa look all day. Unfortunately, I think I only have one or two sets left.  The neck is Honduran Mahogany with internal carbon truss rod and the accent wood is Vanuatu Maidou Burl.  I’m not sure that I’m  going to be able to get any more of this beautiful burl wood.  I’ve almost exhausted my supply and haven’t seen any on the market of late.   For some odd reason, burl off-cuts used to be readily available and now I’m seeing this type of product on the market only rarely.  The tuners are Gotoh Planetary (4:1), now my standard, and the frets are Gold Evo from Luthiers Mercantile, also my standard.  I used a custom set of GHS flourocarbon with low “G” and set the action very low–the instrument plays smooth and easy.   If you want to check it out, go to Hale Ukulele–Blond’s don’t hang around for long!