Redwood and Walnut

Vic D

Vic D

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Messages
1,277
Reaction score
0
Location
Cincinnati
This started out as a redwood with walnut back and sides... and some of you will recall the back got soaked in bacon grease. Now it's solid redwood top and back with walnut sides, bridge and headstock veneer. Square mahogany linings... very very ugly linings... rosewood bridge plate, spanish cedar and paduak neck. This uke has a slighty thinner body, I cut a neck block a little short and decided to use it anyway... see what it sounds like. Will try to finish it and get it ready to paint tommorow.View attachment 11918View attachment 11919
 
That looks really nice. I'm eager to hear how it turns out.
 
I knew you had to be building something there. Looks great. Did you make it all with those files and swiss army knife? ;)
 
Matt Clara said:
I knew you had to be building something there. Looks great. Did you make it all with those files and swiss army knife? ;)
Click to expand...

Hahaha! No I just left those there to give the pictures a more cluttered look... Those are my nut files and fret crowning file which I used yesterday on that CBU I sold. I mainly use a rasp and the monkey wrench on my ukes, although the swiss army knife gets used at least once a day... the snippers work great for trimming string, the phillips on the tuning gears etc...
One thing that bothers me about the uke is the light color of the rosewood fretboard. I got the stuff on ebay and it's supposed to be honduras rosewood... but it has a light color. I should stain it or something. Ebonize? How do you do that?

OOps, edited the wrong post.
 
Last edited:
Looks good Vic. What thickness did you make the redwood. I have a couple curly redwood blanks but I wonder if they are too thin? You've inspired me to use the redwood top on a walnut body.

Andrew
 
thistle3585 said:
Looks good Vic. What thickness did you make the redwood. I have a couple curly redwood blanks but I wonder if they are too thin? You've inspired me to use the redwood top on a walnut body.

Andrew
Click to expand...

Thanks Andrew. I left the top and back pretty beefy, about .078 or so and then feathered them to the edges after the body was glued up to probably .065/.060 (inches) or so. I don't know if that's what the pros do but I do my feathering while I'm cleaning up the binding, tapping along the way. With mahogany I start at .065 and just lightly feather. I also use a 22' radiused top and 12' back. The tap tone from this is loud and deep bell like, similar to mahogany but deeper, maybe a bit less volume. I can tell that even though it has a slightly thinner body it'll have decent volume and it looks kinda les paulish to me, heh.

P.S. If the top looks a little thick through the sound hole it's because I used a rosewood sound hole patch thingie.
 
Last edited:
Looks nice Vic. I like the color combo of the walnut, redwood and bindings
 
I just had a thought... STAND BACK! Ummm... what if one were to carve designs in the neck... like flowers n stuff, then fill it with a darker stain and lightly sand away the raised part... like scrimshaw... a scrimshawed neck. I think that would be mondo cool.
 
Vic D said:
I just had a thought... STAND BACK! Ummm... what if one were to carve designs in the neck... like flowers n stuff, then fill it with a darker stain and lightly sand away the raised part... like scrimshaw... a scrimshawed neck. I think that would be mondo cool.
Click to expand...

Have you checked out Blueberry Guitars?
cnc router is calling me...
 
I think it might be nice on the head as well - inlay style.

Vic, are you going to be the first to try it? Get the swiss army knife and the exacto knife going, camper... ;)
 
I have a question about your redwood/walnut build. Ideas anyone?

I read once - quite a long time ago and I can't remember where - that it is good to have a thin, resonating back and keep the sides very stiff. I haven't put any thought to it since, but with a redwood back and walnut sides I'm wondering if your uke proves this point... What is the sound like compared to other builds? What about the volume? etc.
 
erich@muttcrew.net said:
I have a question about your redwood/walnut build. Ideas anyone?

I read once - quite a long time ago and I can't remember where - that it is good to have a thin, resonating back and keep the sides very stiff. I haven't put any thought to it since, but with a redwood back and walnut sides I'm wondering if your uke proves this point... What is the sound like compared to other builds? What about the volume? etc.
Click to expand...


Erich, I'll tell ya this, when I first tapped on the box after it was glued up it made my
eyebrows raise up. Even though the body isn't as deep as what seems to be standard, the
volume increase over say the poplar back and sides is very noticeable. It may be that the
original walnut back getting soaked in bacon grease was a blessing in disguise.

Now that it's all glued up, the tap is very deep, loud and comparable to the solid mahogany
kit uke I built. I'm very excited about it and I'll do more of these. After the walnut back
got trashed I hit google and searched for redwood back... found a guitar made just like that
and the review noted the same... nice volume and tone.

Maybe I'm prejudiced because I built it, but I think I like the tone better than the
mahogany. Also, the balance of the lightweight cedar neck with paduak stripe and the redwood
top and back with walnut sides... seems to be a plus. I think it's a winning combination.
 
Last edited:
Vic D said:
It may be that the original walnut back getting soaked in bacon grease was a blessing in disguise.
Click to expand...

I guess the real test would be against a redwood top with walnut back and sides - your original plan.

Another theory, and one that we may be able to test ourselves to a certain degree, is that hardwoods can be made more "responsive" and bassier by thinning them more and bracing them appropriately. We're currently working on a walnut/cherry uke and are now in the process of gradually thinning the top and back. So far they are still fairly purcussive - we're down to about 2.3 mm on the edges and 2.7 mm closer to the center, so I guess it's time to put everything together and work from there.
 
Embarrassing news. Neck is off center... top string will ride just outside the sound hole. Terrible. Won't happen again though, from here on out I'll install a barrel nut. What a shame. I got in a hurry and glued the neck up before final shaping it to the fretboard, figured oh well I'll shape it on the body best I can once the fretboard was glued up... the fretboard slid while clamped... thought it was on target then went down to unclamp it and it had slid over about 1/16th or more.. never again... barrel nuts. Keep on keepin' on. It's still gonna sound good, got a lot of character now. Gonna install the dots and bridge and fill the grain tommorow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Larry U
New Uke Day (NUD) Jupiter Tenor #109, Redwood and English Walnut
Replies
9
Views
480
Larry U
Larry U
Kei
NUD: Beansprout Baritone - Redwood/Walnut
Replies
19
Views
1K
John Stephen
John Stephen
rhiggie
Sold Jupiter Redwood / Pennsylvania black walnut - And the story of the Redwood! Read on...
Replies
10
Views
947
MatteoMusic
M
Doc_J
Watching the auction for Tyde Sinker Redwood Claro Walnut Custom Baritone
Replies
9
Views
773
Randy1
Randy1
Hochapeafarm
Beansprout Redwood and Walnut Tenor Ukulele
Replies
1
Views
269
roger67
roger67
Top Bottom