Martin X series guitar and ukulele

After reading the review Baz did on the Martin OX HPL soprano it got me interested in HPL and tenors. I email Martin with suggestion of all HPL tenor or why not try a solid spruce top and HPL sides/back, Martin replied with thank you for comments. I finally got to play a Martin X series guitar. Spruce top and HPL in a rosewood pattern. I must say the guitar sounded good and rang with both tone and sustain that was very pleasing. I've played guitar for 30 years but last four have been all tenor ukulele. Based on what I heard in sound samples on OX and the sound of the X series Martin guitar, I'm totally surprised Martin hasn't jumped on this for tenor or concert.

I think there is a lot of development and build potential out there for this type of ukulele

My .02 Cents worth on the topic. What do you folks think?

I have been very happy with my Soprano OXK since I got it a few months ago.

I recently obtained a 'franken-uke' [Martin soprano neck and new koa body] which
i'm currently using for gigs, classes. song circles, etc. May be bringing it with me
to HNL for the summer

the luthier lowered the action and it plays well (love the Martin neck and fretboard),
with lots of volume when needed.

back to the OXK, not as much volume as my current 'franken-uke' and the back of the
neck did not feel smooth, but still a good player and worry-free regarding occasional
bumps - that might have dinged a wooden body. HPL, while not indestructible, looks
good with the Koa 'picture' [albeit subdued - not fancy curly design], and can handle
the bumps and mishandles that could severely damage a wooden uke.

keep uke'in',

Before moving from Guitar to exclusively playing ukuleles, I owned a Martin 000X1AE and it played and sounded as well as the all-wood Martin D-15 and CEO-5 models I also had owned. If the direction of restrictive wood laws continue to tighten wood allocation and availability, it would seem a natural progression for Martin to expand their ukulele HPL size offerings to Concert and Tenor as they already have done with their X-series guitar lineup.

Based on my satisfaction with the new 0X (Bamboo)HPL uke, I would certainly purchase a Concert size HPL if it were offered by Martin. I think Blackbird would tap a larger customer base if they were to offer a lower price point instrument, but that may not be part of their business plan direction and they may want to stay in a more exclusive market of USA-built only instruments.

if HPL becomes a go to material for uke building, it will be very interesting to me to see
the kinds of 'pictures' we will see on various ukes.

I'd like to see a 'Steam Punk' design, maybe a nicer Koa grain print, various endangered
wood grains (?), etc. I suppose the sky's the limit as long an builders/manufacturers can
gain access to moderately-priced HPL.

Again, i've been happy with my Soprano OXK.

keep uke'in',