Spalted Koa Baritone Ukulele
Got koa, curl and spalt
No fancy names this time. Here is a new Spalted Koa Baritone Ukulele going out this week.
This instrument is made from the same billet of koa that the San Franciso Dream Ukulele is made from. It’s the big brother.
Not a bad spalt match.
Besides the size and tuning differences, I made a triple-ply stringer for the domestic black walnut neck. The laminations are koa and lacewood. The “Dream” ukulele had a solid African Wenge neck.
Triple ply stringer of lacewood and koa in a black walnut neck
Larry Robinson inlaid the “Fish Tattoo” on the head stock. And, yes, my client has the same tattoo on his leg. Aaargh!
Custom head stock inlay by artist Larry Robinson
I went back to an old standard split herringbone for both the sound hole rosette and circumferential purfling. The back strip is a complimentary “mini-zipper” herringbone in the same color. The binding is Indian Rosewood with red/black accents.
Split herringbone purfling is a classic standard
The accent wood is brown, pomelle African Bubinga. The fret board and bridge are ebony species.
African brown, pomelle bubinga accent woods–warm and fuzzy
I installed a Mi-Si passive pick up per request and used a set of Romero tenor flourocarbon strings with brass wound low “G”. I replaced the “C” string with a Thomastik cf27 flat wound stainless string. The resulting sound is evenly balanced.
I’ve made inquires for more spalted koa sets since I’ve been asked, but it seems it’s not readily available. These two sets were snatched up the same week that I received them.
Spalt me, spalt you–Spalted Koa Baritone Ukulele!
