Well, finished off two Tenor Ukuleles a bit over a month ago now. These were the ones hanging about in the photo of me on the roof - some of you may have seen.
This one was a commission for a customer. He already had a few ukuleles - most of them darker timbers, so he requested a pale timber. After supplying some options by photo, we chose Birds-eye Maple. He wanted contrast in the design and though he liked the "ribbon twist" 12th fret inlay of mine, he wanted it a bit more "flashy" for his. So I chose Ziricote to contrast with the Maple for all the trims - hand made purflings; bindings; bridge; fretboard; heel cap; headstock front and back; rosette etc, and a touch of pearl. The neck is a five piece laminate of the above with a carbon rod as well - as a result, I was able to make it very thin.
I was happy with the way the whole design flowed from top to bottom, which was part of the design exercise I gave myself. The rosette was one of the most fiddly I have done to date; it's made of six tiles of Ziricote inlaid with 0.8mm maple, steam bent and hand mitred into place. Pretty happy with the results there and with all the mitres in general on this build. Good to improve on things I felt could be better previously, with each build. Standard issue Grover tuners and a full mirror Mirotone gloss, not that you can tell that from the images.
The sound was a bit tighter at first than some other builds I have done. I expect this will develop in time as it was already changing before dispatch. I have not built a uke with Maple before either so have no comparison there. Customer seems pleased overall, so that's good.
Photos were given the regular treatment in photoshop, but they were taken simply on an $80 point and click against a wall outside - hence the white balance and red wall reflections distort the results.
Anyway, here 'tis.
Jeremy.
