Paul Henneberry
Well-known member
Hello again
Some pics of the other ½ of this year’s batch of four. All four are the same size and specification with the only difference being the material of the sound board, back, sides and neck. This pair is Tasmanian Blackwood and Lace Sheoak with Western Red Cedar.
Style: long neck soprano
Scale: 14 ¾ 14 frets to the body
Fretboard and bridge: mulga
Rosette: ebony, boxwood and paua
Finish: Wattyl stylewood precatalysed nitrocellulose lacquer.
So, how different do they sound? Of the two Tasmanian blackwood ukes the one featured in this post sounds a bit stronger in the midrange which surprised me. The curl is extreme and the soundboard wasn’t as stiff so I didn’t expect it to sound great but it probably the pick of the four. The other TBW from the previous post sounds good but maybe a little high. Early days maybe it will change. The cherry one is a nice solid player and physically the lightest. I had previously made a normal neck cherry soprano for my daughter which is almost identical to this one. It was interesting to get her to play the long neck and the normal neck to me. Indistinguishable, so the long neck is a nice convenience but doesn’t affect the sound much, at least to my ear. The lace sheoak + WRC - wow, what a big sound. Clear and balanced but loud. You can hear every time your fingers touch or slide on a string which makes me concentrate on technique when playing it. I have made a few heavy bodied ukes with sitka soundboards and I haven’t really liked the sound, too much like a banjo – no mid or sustain. I was about to give up on softwood tops but this has made me think again.
Lace Sheoak: very few of you have probably ever seen this stuff. Sheoak is a Casuarina native to Australia. Normal sheoak in Western Australia is about as fine grained and heavy as maple. It is a gorgeous burnt umber orange with darker and extremely pronounced leopard spots. Very stable and takes a great polish. Not used as much as it could be for furniture because it can look very busy. One tree in a 1000 has this unusual grain and medullary ray pattern and is called Lace Sheoak, the cut timber looks like yellow lace on a red background. Its not a burr, the whole tree can be like it. The timber in this uke is much darker than normal. I'm not sure if this grain pattern happens in the sheoaks from the east coast of Aus. It was a big challenge to bend (meaning I broke the first set) because it was very crumbly.
I have started a hobby uke making blog with more photos and technique details at https://jarrahdalestringinstrumentcompany.wordpress.com/ for those with an interest or nothing better to do.
Cheers
Paul
Some pics of the other ½ of this year’s batch of four. All four are the same size and specification with the only difference being the material of the sound board, back, sides and neck. This pair is Tasmanian Blackwood and Lace Sheoak with Western Red Cedar.
Style: long neck soprano
Scale: 14 ¾ 14 frets to the body
Fretboard and bridge: mulga
Rosette: ebony, boxwood and paua
Finish: Wattyl stylewood precatalysed nitrocellulose lacquer.
So, how different do they sound? Of the two Tasmanian blackwood ukes the one featured in this post sounds a bit stronger in the midrange which surprised me. The curl is extreme and the soundboard wasn’t as stiff so I didn’t expect it to sound great but it probably the pick of the four. The other TBW from the previous post sounds good but maybe a little high. Early days maybe it will change. The cherry one is a nice solid player and physically the lightest. I had previously made a normal neck cherry soprano for my daughter which is almost identical to this one. It was interesting to get her to play the long neck and the normal neck to me. Indistinguishable, so the long neck is a nice convenience but doesn’t affect the sound much, at least to my ear. The lace sheoak + WRC - wow, what a big sound. Clear and balanced but loud. You can hear every time your fingers touch or slide on a string which makes me concentrate on technique when playing it. I have made a few heavy bodied ukes with sitka soundboards and I haven’t really liked the sound, too much like a banjo – no mid or sustain. I was about to give up on softwood tops but this has made me think again.
Lace Sheoak: very few of you have probably ever seen this stuff. Sheoak is a Casuarina native to Australia. Normal sheoak in Western Australia is about as fine grained and heavy as maple. It is a gorgeous burnt umber orange with darker and extremely pronounced leopard spots. Very stable and takes a great polish. Not used as much as it could be for furniture because it can look very busy. One tree in a 1000 has this unusual grain and medullary ray pattern and is called Lace Sheoak, the cut timber looks like yellow lace on a red background. Its not a burr, the whole tree can be like it. The timber in this uke is much darker than normal. I'm not sure if this grain pattern happens in the sheoaks from the east coast of Aus. It was a big challenge to bend (meaning I broke the first set) because it was very crumbly.
I have started a hobby uke making blog with more photos and technique details at https://jarrahdalestringinstrumentcompany.wordpress.com/ for those with an interest or nothing better to do.
Cheers
Paul
