Custom Tenor Ukulele of Mun Ebony and Adirondak Spruce

The usual wood request for custom ukulele is Hawaiian Koa but Bob wanted something more traditional in appearance and with more unique woods.  We settled on this Custom Tenor Ukulele with Mun Ebony and Adirondak Spruce.

This Mun Ebony came to the States well over 25 years ago when it might not have been such a rare find.  It was most likely sourced from Vietnam and purchased from the dealer by a friend of mine.  Somewhat green at the time of purchase, it was sealed and  hidden away until the present.  I did a little research and found that this wood is not on the CITIES list yet but is red listed since 80% of the estimated population has been lost.   Occasionally I found and purchased a few scraps of this wood that I could use for finger boards and bridges but I had never seen anything large enough to build with.

There are numerous splits and defects in this wood and the grain orientation is  not uniformly vertical but for the backs I was able get  one piece large enough to book match.   The appearance is very gratifiying showing about every look this wood can provide.

Bob wanted a traditional top and sourced this nice piece of Adirondak Spruce himself.  Adirondak seems to be another wood that is getting scarce and pieces with close grain and light color seem to be few and far between.  I didn’t think this was the best wood choice of wood for a custom tenor  ukulele top but Bob was insistant.  You know, the customer is always right.  I used Adirondak for all the internal bracing as well.

The other materials used in the build are pretty standard:  Oregon Black Walnut Burl sound hole rosette, custom width Honduran Mahogany neck, curly Hawaiian Koa binding, Black/White Maple purfling and Vanuatu Maidou Burl accents.  The tuners are Gold Gotoh UPT, and the strings are Aquila “Lava” with wound low “G”.

I can’t say that the build was flawless–more of a “lessons of life” project.  Nevertheless, we both survived and Bob writes:  “I wanted an ukulele with punch, volume and clarity. . . . It’s a finger picking dream. . .perfect clarity when played softly and volume and  punch when I want it. . . just a sweet sounding ukulele all the way up the neck.”  Now, that kinda made it all worth while.  Thanks a million Bob!