whepper
Well-known member
The Covered Bridge redwood / claro walnut concert #36!
Two days ago I received my Covered Bridge concert, which I ordered the beginning of January. Perry & Terry did an awesome job building exacly the uke like I envisioned it. I based my wood selection on the aesthetics of earlier builds and their advise in regards to the different tone woods. I decided to settle for a redwood top, because of the unique looks and the warm sound. The choice for walnut was made, because it combines well with redwood. I asked for nicely coloured, but straight grained woods (especially walnut can be very wild). The binding is made from curly koa, in which it pays its respect to Hawaii as the other woods are all pacific east coast woods (expect the mahogany neck). The rosette is walnut burl. I'm not a fan of abalone bling and wanted this ukulele to have a real 'folk' look.
The build process was fun, as Perry & Terry post pictures on regular basis on their Facebook page (there are also better pictures of this ukulele on there).
Here are the specs of the ukulele:
- Concert Size
- Old stock, tight grain redwood top
- Claro walnut back & sides
- Ebony fingerboard and (through) bridge
- Bone nut & saddle
- BWB walnut burl rosette
- BWB curly koa binding
- Walnut fineer headstock
- Peghed tuners
- Mahogany neck
- Matte oil finish
The uke sounds very warm & mellow. It's wonderful. The action is the lowest I've played yet (just a tad lower than my Ono). The neck feels nice & smooth, not too thick, not too thin. The uke is very nicely finished and the oil finish makes it looks really vintage, which was a surprise to me (a nice surprise!). My Ono in comparison has a very shiny oil finish (which fits that uke best).
As I already told I'm also the proud owner of a Ono spruce / maple concert ukulele, which sounds a lot brighter than this uke. I bought the Ono via the Marketplace just a week after I ordered the CB. Because I expected it to be different (in looks & sounds) they do complement each other nicely!
As I think there's quite some interest in a comparison between these two brands Oregon made ukuleles I'll post a comparison review with good quality sound samples of these 2 ukuleles soon. They're both pro instruments (I'm not, but I'm having lots of fun).
I would want to thank Perry & Terry of CB for building this ukulele for me. It's beyond my expectations!
