Curly Myrtle and Bear Super Tenor Ukulele

Another super tenor ukulele!  I received a few sets of spectacular Oregon Myrtle wood from my supplier Vince at Pacific Coast Woods late last year.  This is a Curly Myrtle and Bear Super Tenor Ukulele.

bear claw Alaskan spruce ukulele

curly koa and bear super tenor ukulele

Oregon Myrtle, like Hawaiian Koa, has many different and sometimes bizarre appearances.  These particular sets are curly, have sapwood, have good chatoyance and also have some really dark to almost black streaks running through them.  This is unusual, maybe rare, since myrtle is naturally a light colored wood.  Vince tells me that this wood is usually harvested from fallen trees, not live cut, and the coloring in the wood is somewhat dependent on how long the tree has been down and also the position of the tree on the ground.  Hmmm?  I’ll have to go check this one out myself one of these days.  Go to his website and check out some of the magnificent woods that he has up for sale.

curly Oregon myrtle wood

This myrtle wood just pops.

I also received a pairing or Port Orford Cedar tops with each of the sets, but for this particular instrument I opted, instead, for a nice Bear Claw Spruce obtained from Alaska Specialty Woods.  Again, this Alaskan wood has been harvested from fallen trees.  The bear claw appearance is a genetic trait in some trees but not many.  I feel lucky to have at least a dozen or more sets of this attractive, salvaged wood.

Alaskan bearclaw spruce

Simple red,black and koa accents

 

Lastly, I received enough sold wood for a matching curly myrtle neck.  This is my favorite part of this instrument.  A perfect match.  The binding is curly Hawaiian Koa and the accents are clean and simple blacks and reds.  I used Oregon Black Walnut burl for the backstrap, heal lamination and the lower bout graft.

curly myrtle wood neck super tenor ukulele

Solid curly myrtle neck.

Nothing like a super tenor ukulele with exotic appearance!