Koa Concert Ukulele
If you have followed my posts for some time you might wonder why I only show tenor ukulele. Well, the tenor is the most popular model that I make and sell. But, recently, there have been increasing requests for Koa Concert Ukulele and now I am keeping this instrument a regular in my build schedule. I think this is only the third concert ukulele that I have made this year but there are more in the works. This instrument is now available at Hale Ukulele in San Diego and I will be delivering another cute Koa Concert Ukulele to Ric at the Hale early next week. This Koa Concert Ukulele is very straight forward with understated accents. I used a natural maple and a green dyed poplar purfling to accent the India Rosewood Binding. The Koa is from the Big Island of Hawaii and this particular set shows subtle figure but very nice color and grain.I purposely chose this set of wood for this instrument because of its low density. My theory is that the lighter weight and the lower density wood is going to give this smaller instrument a better edge on sound and volume. This will be challenged, of course, but I will continue to work this out as I construct more of this model and experiment with other woods and higher density Koa. In addition, there is a bit more volume in these little instruments than some conventional other concerts.
I slipped in a picture of the neck because this Honduran Mahogany showed light curl as well and I don’t see that a lot in this wood. You just never know. The accent wood is Vanuatu Maidou Burl and the finger board and bridge are Amazon Rosewood species. I’ve been using more of this rosewood on the Koa models for a little while and find it’s great tap tone and reddish brown color to be a great match for most of the Koa.
Lastly, I am using my GHS flourocarbon tenor strings with Sarah’s Low “G”. I ran out of concert sets some time ago and started substituting with tenor sets. I’ve done this before and I kind of like it. There is a little less tension than you would imagine and after the strings stretch in the sound that is produced is close to that of the tenor with a warm and full sound. Here’s a comment from the Curly Koa/Maple concert owner: “. . . It is fantastic. Sounds way better than any tenor I own or have played (and I’ve played them all!). . .. I guess I will continue to use this set-up for a while longer!