Lacewood and African Padauk uke..

Aloha boydellinii!
E Komo Mai to the 'Ukulele Underground. She's a real beauty. Your friend is really lucky to have someone like you to build such a wonderful instrument. Can't wait to see your next work of art. Mahalos for sharing!

Mason671
 
Beautiful design and execution, with a couple of quirks.

Since you stated "hobby builder", and posted it here (instead of Uke Talk), I'll mention this:
Normally, the double markers are at the 12th to mark the octave.
`Ukulele fretboards are marked on the 10th, not the 9th.
These days, to use a cutaway, the fretboard should really stretch out to about 20 frets.
If you make the channel behind the saddle deeper, you'll be able to better take advantage of the bridge design.

That being said, your craftsmanship is certainly not "hobby builder". The neck join reminds me of Shinji Takahashi's work, and how he (and Takayuki Mori) does his cutaways - very nice.

Personally, I've always liked satin finishes. Brings out an earthly simplicity that forces you to appreciate the wood, rather than the finish that's on it.

Back to the bridge - nice. I've done this only on instruments where I know the player will pay attention to it. Although the concept is easy for us, for some players, its not. If your friend is like one of my friends, this one will end up coming back to you. Since he (or she) is your friend, you'll be asked to change the strings. Since he (or she) is your friend, you'll end up throwing in the strings.

Keep showing us more of your stuff - deserves to be seen.

-A
 
Ditto with what everyone else said - awesome looking uke!

I'm curious as to how you obtained such a natural bare-wood looking finish. Can you shed some light on your finishing process?
 
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