Koa Petroglyph Turtle Tenor Ukulele

Here’s a new custom tenor ukulele–the Koa Petroglyph Turtle Tenor Ukulele.

Originally I just wanted the purfling and sound hole rosette in Blue Paua Abalone but, in the middle of the night, I decided to add a styalized Petroglyph Turtle. The idea was to have a Koa on Koa look. I already had enough bling and I thought that this might be an interesting and subtle addition.

The blond Koa is to die for. I think I only have one more set of this salvage Koa from the Big Island of Hawaii, and that might be for a concert only. It not only has great blond color and good curl but some really great dark highlights as well.

I accented this build with Tasmanian Blackwood. The blue/black purfling is purposely added to accent the Blue Paua Abalone and not be a distraction. The binding is India Rosewood and the neck is Honduran Mahogany–internal carbon fiber truss rod of course. The fret board and bridge are African Ebony. The tuners are gold Gotoh UPT .

Did I leave anything out? The Koa Petroglyphy Turtle Tenor Ukulele was a fun build and a good segway for future projects. This instrument was snapped up as soon as I had strings on it. Can’t wait to design the next one!