Amateur Hour in the Uke Shop

Here is my latest and greatest tenor uke effort. The (almost but not quite) "perfect ukulele". The best thing about this uke is that it didn't fight me, but just came together (well mostly came together to be totally honest if you understand).

I also want to say here that this ukeule is not for sale and I am just posting here as a builder for other player/builders out there and not as some sort of advertisement.



An Oregon myrtle top (California bay laurel) which was braced light (standard 3 fan) and "floating" with no butts about it. I built this uke to sound good to my ear which means sweet sustain and good mids. I mostly succeeded although the thing is only a day old. I notice that I need to damp a bit while playing as it rings. No problem and the good thing is that the ring isn't wolfy but is nice and sweet. Really the question is how is this thing gonna hold up over the years. Only time will tell. Meanwhile I'm in player heaven.

The chatoyance on the myrtle is unbelievable. I love this wood. Photos don't do it justice.



I definitely went overboard with the bling, but hey, I like bling. Flash is good. I think the gold machine tuners have to go though. A little too much don't you think? Not only are they way too gaudy but they weigh too much and over balance the instrument. Gonna swap out for some better tuners later.



Beau, you are safe. Note the splice. Doh! I can't do it! I am not perfect! (maple/ebony/maple/rosewood against mahogany).





Bound fretboard and burled walnut peghead.

That's stunning. All the wood choices work really well together. I especially like how the grain on the top seems to wrap around the sound hole like you had to wedge the grain out of the way to squeeze the hole in there.

Looks pretty nice to me....not too blingy at all for a keeper build

Nice job, you obviously put a lot of work in it and it shows!

Bob

Nice looking machine. Rather than swap out the tuners completely why not just change the buttons from metal to, say, ebony? If that's possible it would slightly reduce the bling and slightly reduce the weight.
Miguel

Gorgeous uke! I love the headstock burl.
What's wrong with a bit of bling?? If you're going to go to the trouble of making them, you might as well make them beautiful in my opinion

Looks great, and you can't go wrong with Myrtle!

I had never made a top out of Oregon Myrtle before and I'm really impressed. Every wood has its downsides, but this stuff comes about as close to having no downsides as I can think of. Let me count the ways:

It is a polite wood. It doesn't split or tear out at the wrong moment
It smells good
It carves like hard chocolate ice cream
It is hard but not too hard. Stiff, but not too stiff
Easy on tool edges (well, it will take an edge off, but not too bad)
Resonate with excellent sustain and projection
Predictable
Forgiving
Takes a finish nicely
Non-allergenic

I could go on but I won't. But most of all, it makes a great sounding instrument. Who couldn't like this wood?

Looks lovely!

I second the point about the tuners. I'm not a fan of gold in general as I find that it takes focus away from the wood.

Lovely!

I am really new to all the uke stuff, but I can tell beauty when I see it.......Stunning job