Olive Wood Tenor Ukulele - Sold
I had to do it. Someone had to do it. This is the Olive Wood Tenor Ukulele.
Earthtone Cedar sound board.
It’s all about the wood.
I was recently asked if I had a signature build. I guess the answer is no. There just are too many good looking and tonally different woods out there to have fun with. That’s pretty much been my gig from the start.
Back and Sides: Highly figured olive wood from Greece. Believe it or not the sides and the back are out of the same piece of wood. Shows you how much the figure can change in this tree. I believe this wood all comes from dead or dying trees in orchards that are possibly hundreds of years old.
Highly figured Greek olive wood back and sides.
Sound Board: This is my last set of Earthtone Cedar from Alaska Specialty Woods. It’s really hard to find a back and sides to use this wood with but thought it works pretty well here. The bonus, of course, is that this particular cedar has some of the most brilliant of tap tones and sustains of all the wood that I have used over the years. The color comes from intense Alaskan weathering and salt exposure.
Earthtone cedar from Alaska has a special tap tone.
Fret Board and Bridge: this is Thuja Burl (cedars of Lebanon). I’ve had it stabilized and and have used it in the past on several instruments and it seems to hold up fairly well. And talk about looks! Love those side markers as well.
Thuja burl fret board and bridge.
Neck: Honduran mahogany. Internal carbon truss rod.
Accent Woods: Brown/golden Australian mallee burl.
Binding: India rosewood with black/fuschia purfling.
Bracing: Canadian spruce and Adirondack spruce (eastern red spruce).
Nut and Saddle: stained bone.
The rest of the build.
Head Stock Veneer: a combo of mallee burl and olive and fuchsia opal. The mallee burl has a cool live edge that I just can’t cut off.
A combo of mallee burl, olive wood and fuchsia opal.
Strings: Pepe Romero flourocarbon with wound low “G”.
Case: Crossrock ABS.
Crossrock comfort.
Tuners: Gotoh UPT.
The full monty back.
And
Sounds pretty good. The olive wood has a dullish tap tone that I would compare with mango. Therefore, I used the brightest top in the shop for the sound board and voila! Just goes to show you that sometimes it works out pretty well. So basically I’m not complaining. The olive wood is super easy to finish but it’s a little wild and crazy.
Hey it’s Easter. I think I could have called the Olive Wood Tenor Ukulele the biblical wood ukulele as well?
