Willy’s Baritone Ukulele - Custom Build-Sold
Here’s another example of my new baritone shape. This is Willy’s Baritone Ukulele.
The whole package.
It’s all about the wood.
Body: Brazilian Rosewood. Really old!
Brazilian with pomelle sapele backstrip.
Sound Board: Fort Ross Redwood. This set has some darker material favored by Willy.
That’s a Fort Ross redwood soundboard.
Fret Board and Bridge: Ebony species. 15 frets to the body and 21″ scale. 1 7/16″ nut.
Neck: Honduran Mahogany. Carbon truss rod, of course.
Accent Wood: Pomelle Sapele. I used this wood for all the accents with the exception of the head stock face and the rosette.
Fuchsia/black fiber accents.
The rest of the build.
Tuners: Gotoh open back guitar-style 15::1.
It’s a vintage guitar look.
Amplification: Mi-Si.
Case: Crossrock ABS.
Strings: Oasis Baritone Linear.
Head Stock Inlay: Da keelah whale in black and white MOP.
Da keelah whale inlay.
Purfling: Fuchsia/black fiber. The colors really went well with these woods.
Does size matter?
Size matters.
You bet it does. Here’s a photo of this instrument next to a new super tenor shape. I didn’t have a standard baritone to compare with. You can see there is substantial size differential. The increase in volume, shape and bridge placement make for an almost guitar-sized instrument in voice, sustain and tonal complexity.
And.
I’m totally ruined. It might be the wood, but I think it’s the package that make this instrument such a delight to play. I think Willy is in total agreement as well. He’s a slack key guy so initially I tuned to “G”. He plays with some other tunings including a “C” tuning that I’ve not heard of. Wow, did I get sucked into that one. I’ve got to look around for some low tension strings that I might even be able to use for a GCEA tuning. No matter how I tuned it or played it, Willy’s Baritone Ukulele is a winner.
