Tenor Ukulele

Here is the Finished Tenor Ukulele that I mentioned a few posts ago.
Mahogany Back & Sides & Cedar Top with Rosewood binding. (the rosewood is not too noticeable but should darken with age. The neck is made from some unidentified exotic hardwood with a Wenge fingerboard. The fret markers are Weng and Aluminium. The Saddle Is made from the the same wood as the neck with a Wenge  accent The Headstock also has a Wenge accent and there is a Wenge Bump Strip and Jack plate on the Bottom. nut and saddle are hand carved from Corian. the machine heads are open faced ones with plastic buttons which I treated to make them look like bone.
The mahogany is reclaimed The neckwood and wenge is very old stock and the cedar is sustainable.
It has Aquila strings and it has been fitted with 2 Piezo discs.

Really pleased with the look and design of this build It's only the second full acoustic build I have done the first being a strumstick which is pretty simple. I found it very nice and comfortable to play. soundwise a very mellow warm sound. Not as loud as I would have liked. I think I am also getting very good results with the antique patina finish. It does look like it's very old and well played and loved.

The owner Marko who originally commissioned a cigar box Uke but due to an error on my part with the original build and the lack of a suitable cigar box to build another one. ended up with letting me build my own body. He has kindly written me a comprehensive review which is under the pics.

Hi Anthony,

 

Uke arrived yesterday. It was very nicely packed, thank you.

 

I really like it. I spend a couple of hours last night playing it.

 

Sound is very nice and rich, very suitable for blues (as well as the looks). It is not as loud as I wanted to be, but it still might get better when it matures. All the sounds come out very clearly, you can hear all the strings individually(what is not always good thing when it shows the lack of your skills J ). Sound is very balanced and it doesn’t get muddy if you strum it harder.

 

I like the aged look. Very nice.

 

The neck is a bit thicker than I originally wanted but it works well with levelled back. Very comfortably to take barre chords. So nothing to complain there. Action is spot on. Very pleased with that. Much better than any ukulele I have played. Very low and no buzz. Perfect. Feel a bit like playing an electric guitar.

 

The balance is pretty good. The headstock could be a bit lighter, but it sits nicely with the quite heavy neck joint. Very comfortable to hold even standing up.  Many ukuleles are very light to give good resonance but are many times very fiddly to hold and move easily when moving chords quickly. Overall this uke is much heavier than most of the ukes I have played (except resonator ones) but it is not a bad thing.

 

Build quality and finish is very impressive.

 

I don’t currently have an amplifier, so I couldn’t test how it would be plugged in, but hopefully soon. I am sure it would be pleasure to play it amplified.

 

It was nice touch how it stands up on the floor.

 

So overall I am very pleased with it and this beauty jumped to my number one uke straight away.

 

Thank you.