Burl Wood Tenor Ukulele - Sold
Here’s the latest, the Burl Wood Tenor Ukulele.
Burl wood tenor ukulele custom build by kimo ukulele san diego ca
It’s All About the Wood
Body: I seriously had to do this! I’ve had my eye on this Brown, Australian Mallee Burl for about 3 years. It hadn’t sold because it was a little on the pricey side but I finally sucked it up and made the deal. It’s very, very difficult to find burl wood that doesn’t have a lot of fractures, voids or punky areas. This is the best that I’ve been able to find so far. There are a few small fractures and voids but thanks to Mr. Epoxy they were sealed tight and I believe will not be of any concern in the future. This is a super tenor shape.
Book matched burl.
Top: I paired the burl with a straight grained Swiss Moon Spruce braced with Adirondak spruce.
Binding: Micro curl Claro Walnut seemed to fit the color spectrum pretty well. I laminated this with Jade Green maple and black fiber for purfling.
Micro curl claro walnut binding.
Accent Woods: Black andWhite ebony for back strip. Mallee burl for the rest including the rosette and head stock.
Fret Board and Bridge: I’m a sick puppy! This is Thuja Burl. It’s actually Cedar of Lebanon. It’s extremely fragrant and much harder than the western cedars that you might be acquainted with. I had it stabilized by Kevin at Woods From the West and further stabilized with acrylic to harden the surface more and bring out the beautiful colors and burl. This is the second time I have used this wood for this purpose and so far (fingers crossed) it seems to be holding up okay. Standard 1 3/8″ nut width.
Thuja Burl fret board and bridge.
Stabilized Thuja Burl fretboard.
Neck: Honduran Mahogany with claro walnut lamination and internal carbon truss rod. Sanded finish.
The Rest of the Build
Head Stock: You just can’t beat mother nature for beauty. I took a piece of the Mallee burl sap wood live edge and added a bit of black epoxy to fill the bill. The result is–well, not bad!
Mallee burl and black epoxy.
Tuners: Gotoh UPT.
Gotoh UPT’s on mallee burl backstrap.
Nut and Saddle: unbleached bone stained brown.
Strings: Pepe Romero flourocarbon with wound low “G”.
Case: Crossrock Fiberglass in black and bordello red.
Crossrock safe.
And
I like it. This is my kind of instrument fun. The sound, in my opinion, is classic Kimo. It’s full and responsive with balanced tonal qualities. Not surprising, the burl wood didn’t have a striking tap tone so I’m thinking that the Swiss Moon with the Adirondak bracing are most responsible. It also has plenty of warmth and volume which appeals to my ear and my finger-style playing.
Maybe you should tell Santa about the Burl Wood Tenor Ukulele?
