Wood find

Thanks Mike - sorted! There is a cross which appears top right of the thumbnail once the attachment is selected - hadn't spotted that before.
 
I've just completed the first concert uke from this piece of figured sapele - a bit of a rush to get it ready for my youngest grandsons Christmas present, but just made the deadline! A few corners cut, but the mark on the front binding is actually in the wood, not filler. Wish I could say the same for the purfling ends :eek:. I filled the tiny worm holes with an epoxy & sanding dust mix.

I was able to cut two sets of sides for each top & back set - one from the highly figured part of the timber and one from the plainer side. The figured sides were simply impossible for me to hand bend, and I suspect the remainder will find a use in neck laminations or cigar box designs.

PC201029.jpg PC201032.jpg PC201035.jpg PC201034.jpg
 
Lovely! How does it sound?
 
Wow Paul, that's great. The wood is beautiful, some of the nicest wood I've seen regardless of what it is. Well done on the find and the build.
Mike
 
Thanks for the kind words everyone - have to say I'm chuffed with how it has turned out, particularly since I think I will get at least 8 full concert sets and 8 soprano sets from the board. The only issue is with bending the sides - even the plainer set took me a long, long time to hand bend.

How does it sound? Well I find it difficult to put sounds into words, but starting from the fact that overall I think it sounds pretty good, the first adjectives that spring to mind are "clear" and "bright" with plenty of volume.

Whilst I have always been pretty happy with the tone from my concerts, they have hitherto been lacking a little in volume.

For this one (and the spruce & London plane example I completed alongside it), I made several changes to previous:

1) Tops thinned by ~ 0.1 mm to ~1.75 mm for the sapele and ~1.95 mm for the spruce (before final sanding).
2) Bridge plates thinned a further 0.1 mm to 1.7 mm.
3) Fan braces stopped short of the lower soundhole brace and tapered away to nothing, where previously they would have butted up to it.
4) Fan brace profile changed from "peaked" to the continuous curved shape I used on a batch of three baritones built earlier this year, which in turn were derived from the bracing I used on my Cumpiano inspired nylon string guitar. Coincidentally, the latest in Pete Howletts truly excellent ukulele club workshop videos shows a similar development.
5) Bridge reduced 6 mm in width (or is that length? the longest dimension anyway) and switched to a lighter, pinless design.

This is the spruce/London plane concert, but the sapele one is the same: P1080728.jpg Earlier example for comparison: P1070777.jpg

So now I'm happy with the volume as well :)
 
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You just made every piece of furniture in my house look like a future ukulele.

With the success of the Martin OX laminates, even the formica countertops are looking good!
 
. 3) Fan braces stopped short of the lower soundhole brace and tapered away to nothing, where previously they would have butted up to it.
:)

Big thumbs up on this. I think it makes a big difference. Structurally weaker sure. But allows the lower bout to vibrate free without damping. That lower brace can really suck up vibrations and kill the projection. .... Nice looking uke by the way. Very nicely done.
 
Here are the latest two to emerge from this billet - another concert plus a soprano. Usual batch of cock-ups and senior moments during construction e.g. the upside down flame on the soprano and the tenor size bridge on the concert :eek: but hey ho I've stopped worrying about it. They both play nicely and having settled in a bit sound pretty good to my ears. Hoping to have them an show/for sale at MUMF in May.

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Sorry about the sideways photos - they are the right way up on my PC! Anyone know how to sort this out?

As I've mentioned previously, this is the hardest wood to hand bend I have yet encountered - worse than ovangkol and that's saying something. Sides from the figured part of the board are simply impossible for me.
Some of the wreckage accrued ...
P1080847.jpg
 
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MUMF looks really cool.. wonder if there are similar events in US.
Are you open to shipping it to US and selling them here? ;-)
 
Hi. Thanks for the interest in the instruments, but they will only be available at MUMF or in the UK if I still have them after that.
 
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