Ukulele Eddie
Well-known member
Previously I owned and loved a Blackbird Clara, which was made with Pegheds per my request (the first they did) as I found the then stock side tuners quite unattractive. I re-homed the uke as I was rotating through ukes faster than kids eat pizza, but intended to get another one someday as I loved its tone and playability.
I rate ukes across four dimensions: (1) tone, (2) playability, (3) aesthetics and (4) build execution. Maybe if I was a real player, I'd only care about 1 & 2. But I care quite a lot about 3 and 4. Second order to 1 and 2, but important nonetheless to my enjoyment. YMMV.
I loved both the Clara and Farallon for 1, 2 and 4. But both left me lacking on #3. So, at NAMM I discussed with CEO Joe Luttwak some changes that I thought might make the Farallon more aesthetically pleasing. My wish list included:
- Unigrain eKoa top like their eKoa guitars
- Fancy rosette
- Side soundport
- Matt-finish fretboard with parellogram fretmarkers
- Sunburst finish
Joe took on the challenge and sent me a progress pic today. I'm really excited. It's probably 4-6 weeks away from completion, but here is a progress picture:
Many of you may have seen the sunburst finish on the Farallon that HMS sold recently. It lasted about six hours on the site. I do think it compressed the sound a bit vs. the non-gloss finish, but it still sounded fantastic to my ears.
Of course, when this baby arrives, I will do a full review and sound sample. Don't worry, it will include Time in a Bottle. LOL.
I rate ukes across four dimensions: (1) tone, (2) playability, (3) aesthetics and (4) build execution. Maybe if I was a real player, I'd only care about 1 & 2. But I care quite a lot about 3 and 4. Second order to 1 and 2, but important nonetheless to my enjoyment. YMMV.
I loved both the Clara and Farallon for 1, 2 and 4. But both left me lacking on #3. So, at NAMM I discussed with CEO Joe Luttwak some changes that I thought might make the Farallon more aesthetically pleasing. My wish list included:
- Unigrain eKoa top like their eKoa guitars
- Fancy rosette
- Side soundport
- Matt-finish fretboard with parellogram fretmarkers
- Sunburst finish
Joe took on the challenge and sent me a progress pic today. I'm really excited. It's probably 4-6 weeks away from completion, but here is a progress picture:
Many of you may have seen the sunburst finish on the Farallon that HMS sold recently. It lasted about six hours on the site. I do think it compressed the sound a bit vs. the non-gloss finish, but it still sounded fantastic to my ears.
Of course, when this baby arrives, I will do a full review and sound sample. Don't worry, it will include Time in a Bottle. LOL.