the rendering was spot on though.. just not the wood..
I'm curious what this wood looks like now, that deserves this post.... is it the bad grain? or does it all now resemble a whirlygig that won't even fly? The wood was sliced, I believe sanded, and then immediately shrink wrapped, and repackaged. I hope it is not kindling now....
Sawing your own is best, from carefully selected boards. That $3000 bandsaw will pay for itself quickly. There is no way I could afford to buy individual sets of the wood I like, and thankfully, a good bit of what I use is really scraps, genuine scraps, left overs from my other projects. Someday I will post a pic of a fantastically figured turntable top, and the cutout for the turntable, which is a gorgeous matching uke top! In the past, these cutouts went into the wood stove. Other times, I can buy a beautiful board for a client, slice it, and have half the slices remaining for uke material, paid for. Of course I have been expanding and buying wood now specifically for ukes. Buying boards from new sources, sight unseen, even with pics, can be tricky. On a few occasions, with sellers on ebay, I have been disappointed, even after a half hour conversation clarifying EXACTLY what I want, and what I do not want, and the lame reply, 'well, I thought that you might be able to use it anyways......' He got to pay for shipping both ways, and for his hassle. I lost an hour and a half unwrapping, communicating, re-wrapping, and mailing the board back. That said, I have met some sellers through ebay that I now deal with directly, and very happily.