This is Fae’s new Black Walnut Koa Custom Tenor Ukulele. Fae asked for something a little different and I suggested this combination of woods. I have used this combination of woods before and found the end result to be very pleasing in both sound and appearance. Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable woods for these […]
This week’s addition is a Dark Koa Tenor Ukulele which was just completed and delivered Thrusday to Hale Ukulele in San Diego. This is the second and next to last set of this particular look in Koa that I have in stock. My wife has nicknamed the instrument “the skunk” because of the dark and light […]
This is Naomi’s Tiare Tenor Ukulele. I think we should just call it “My Tiare”. After some deliberation here at the shop, Naomi picked this wonderful set of Koa Wood for her project. This Koa Wood is another set of salvage wood from the big island of Hawaii. We both really like the color, curl […]
Dr. Richard wanted a new Dark Koa Tenor Ukulele. He personally picked this set of Koa for the project because of its dark colors and very white sap wood contrasts. This is another of my sets of salvaged Koa wood from the big island of Hawaii. I have said before that some of this salvage wood is not […]
This is Jack’s Cowboy Koa Tenor Ukulele. He specificialy picked out this set koa for it’s color and wild, irregular curl. This is another example of salvaged koa from the Big Island of Hawaii. This wood has been used and abused but is still functional and actually produced an instrument that was beyond my expectations. The […]
As promised last week, here is a look at the Mini-Me Mango. Actually not that small–a concert–but built with some of the same beautiful chocolate heart mango that I used on the tenor. This one shows some beautiful rich color and really well matched spalt. I used the same materials in the construction: india rosewood binding with […]
At last some new Mango. My source on the Hawaiian island of Maui this year was a dud, but a customer of mine (thanks Dan) sourced out some great 26 year old Chocolate Heart Mango billets from the Big Island and stored at a cabinet shop in northern California. Here’s the first build from that […]
Steve’s got curl. No, not his hair, but his new Curly Koa Tenor Ukulele. Steve picked out this spectacular set of koa from my stash of salvage wood from the big island of Hawaii. The final product was slightly more than I anticipated. As with most woods, Koa offers a huge range of variables: color, grain pattern, density and […]
Here’s a Custom Koa Tenor Ukulele for Hale Ukulele in San Diego. For this custom tenor ukulele I have used another set of salvage Koa from the Big Island of Hawaii. This particular set of Koa does not have a really strong curl but what it lacks in curl it makes up for in color and grain. […]
Here’s another of my Custom Tenor Ukulele featuring alternative woods. I’ve used the last of this particular set of Claro Walnut for back and sides and the second and last set of a very unusual, curly Koa for the sound board (see “Moonscape Myrtle“, two posts previous). I’ve never seen this “look” in Koa previously and don’t expect to […]
