Soooo... the new Uke:
A mya Moe Concert Classic in master grade Koa with bloodwood binding and abalone purfling/rosette. (Details in my signature link)
The process was a pleasure.
I initially contacted Gordon and Char around November last year.
I am a concert type of person so that part was easy. SOMEHOW Char was able to translate my request for "master Koa with almost holographic curl running horizontally and in a burnt honey colour"... what was I thinking! What had I been smoking....??
Char found several examples of previous builds in the gallery and over the course of several emails we selected the wood; refined the orientation (I'm not a big fan of heart wood) and made a decision. The bloodwood binding was my request as was the abalone... Also put the KK twin spot in it. Must admit that I had difficulty resolving the raw wood with the potential final appearance but Char was confident - and I was confident in Char..
So how do you think Char went? From my point of view she captured my wishes perfectly!
Several emails followed over the following months as Gordon confirmed my list of wants/wishes and then .. they built it...
As I mentioned above, the smell of this instrument is amazing :drool:
BUT - onto other relevancies.
Firstly it is WARM to the touch! Almost all the Ukes I have owned or played are Varnished.. and initially cool. This one is warm light and begs to be cradled
The Action is slightly lower than my other Ukes and - as they say - it plays like butter... This is my first KOA uke and I love the tone (which is why I selected it!). It needs to open up some more and I am looking forward to listening to it evolve.
Interestingly, I find moving up and down the neck amazingly smooth compared to my other ukes... I have no idea if that is secondary to the smooth oiled finish rather than varnish, or to Gordon's beautifully hand shaped work or a combination.
Intonation seems spot on; not a buzz to be heard, no rattles, squeaks or hums
Yes... I am happy -
I'll post some sound files or something in a little while....
Thanks Gordon, Char, Aaron and any of the magic elves that help you. :bowdown:
