My wife's player's model from Beau Hannam has arrived a couple of days ago, and we are both deeply impressed with it. In every aspect, it looks so much more refined than what we would have expected from a player's model. Beau really gave his everything to make it just as beautiful as his more adorned instruments.
It's an all blonde tenor ukulele with a flamed Maple body and a Swiss Alpine Moon Spruce top, appointed with Rosewood binding (upgrade on the player's model), spalted Maple rosette, Oak burl veneer on the back of the headstock, and a piece of stained Koa to contrast the logo on the faceplate. We also upgraded to a side sound port. Beau has installed Golden Schertler tuners from Switzerland to add to the Swiss-ness. One of our wishes was for the neck to match the body in color, so Beau has been using a carbon reinforded piece of Port Orford Cedar.
Just as we were hoping, the blonde theme matches Beau's design very well. The gently curved headstock and sculpted heel look so elegant in white, as does the mitered end graft, the wide wooden rosette, and the bound sound hole. The finish is mirror flat and rounds off the beauty of this instrument.
Playability is superb, very comfortable neck profile, perfectly low action, and we noticed the semi-hemispherical rounded fret ends which make sliding up and down the neck really comfortable. The Schertler tuners work extremely smooth, best ones we have come across.
But the thing that really impresses us the most is the sound: deep and full, loud and clear, extremely resonant and with tremendous sustain. Just the way we like it, and not as harsh and bright sounding as Maple is often described. I guess the side port does add to a full and open sound, almost like stereo.
Beau has been keeping us updated about the build at all times, and it has been great fun for my wife and me to watch the progress. Thanks again for everything, Beau!
Here are some quick snapshots I just took, but they don't fully capture the beauty of this instrument. For those interested, I have been posting pictures of the build progress here.
It's an all blonde tenor ukulele with a flamed Maple body and a Swiss Alpine Moon Spruce top, appointed with Rosewood binding (upgrade on the player's model), spalted Maple rosette, Oak burl veneer on the back of the headstock, and a piece of stained Koa to contrast the logo on the faceplate. We also upgraded to a side sound port. Beau has installed Golden Schertler tuners from Switzerland to add to the Swiss-ness. One of our wishes was for the neck to match the body in color, so Beau has been using a carbon reinforded piece of Port Orford Cedar.
Just as we were hoping, the blonde theme matches Beau's design very well. The gently curved headstock and sculpted heel look so elegant in white, as does the mitered end graft, the wide wooden rosette, and the bound sound hole. The finish is mirror flat and rounds off the beauty of this instrument.
Playability is superb, very comfortable neck profile, perfectly low action, and we noticed the semi-hemispherical rounded fret ends which make sliding up and down the neck really comfortable. The Schertler tuners work extremely smooth, best ones we have come across.
But the thing that really impresses us the most is the sound: deep and full, loud and clear, extremely resonant and with tremendous sustain. Just the way we like it, and not as harsh and bright sounding as Maple is often described. I guess the side port does add to a full and open sound, almost like stereo.
Beau has been keeping us updated about the build at all times, and it has been great fun for my wife and me to watch the progress. Thanks again for everything, Beau!
Here are some quick snapshots I just took, but they don't fully capture the beauty of this instrument. For those interested, I have been posting pictures of the build progress here.
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