LfdM super tenor build in progress

DownUpDave

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I am fortunate enough to live 10 minutes down the road from Luis who builds LfdM ukuleles and guitars. Because of that I own a tenor with sitka spruce top and amazon rosewood back and sides. It is a cutaway with grand bouche sound hole (large oval) and arm rest. I also own a baritone 22-1/4" scale length with large body of bearclaw spruce and bocote back and side. Both are outstanding instruments.

About one year ago Luis had finished 4 ukes and called me up to see them. One had a sinker cedar top, never heard of that before. One strum and I was floored, sounded so dynamic, sweet and alive. So we hatched a plan. We had talked about doing a 19" scale length super tenor and this was the sound board I wanted to use. We found a stunning piece of curly myrtle, it looks great and Luis liked tap tone, most important. It will be a non-cutaway with a round sound hole, Luis is making the body a bit deeper than normal to take advantage of the longer scale length

Below are pictures of the sinker cedar tops he had available to pick from. Again I let his ear do the choosing. A picture of the raw myrtle oriented two different way. Then top and back glued up and sides bent with some naptha on it to show the color

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Oh man, that is gonna be awesome! :nana:
And you are going to love having a "baritone" at the correct scale length. :p
 
Oh man, that is gonna be awesome! :nana:
And you are going to love having a "baritone" at the correct scale length. :p

Thanks Jim. I have owned the baritone for over a year now and it sounds like a 4 string classical guitar. Bigger body and especially the longer scale length take the tone to a whole different level

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Oh man, that is gonna be awesome! :nana:
And you are going to love having a "baritone" at the correct scale length. :p

It has taken me a few minutes but now I understand your "baritone" reference. You like your baritones at 19" and this tenor will be 19" but will be tuned to C, I will experiment with B and Bb.
 
Yeah, just teasin. The biggun looks great too and I'm sure sounds great for G tuning.
19" is my favorite scale, at least recently. You have a lot of options with tuning. Linear C or Bb should be awesome. Reentrant can take you lower if you want to go that route. I have my super tenor Bonanza in reentrant F (cFAD) currently.
 
Wow Dave, another stunner!!! Sinker cedar- first I have heard of that. I think it's great you are trusting Luis's tap tone judgement. I can't wait to hear how this one sounds and compares to your other gems. Really like the myrtle you picked. I am so excited for you.
 
Hey, DUD1, soon you’ll be able open a high end ukulele store. They’re all pretty nice. You’re a lucky uker. :eek:ld:
 
Beautiful stuff. I especially like the 22 1/4" scale baritone, for me it's the perfect size for a bass uke. I recently looked at some myrtle panels, love that look. Maybe someday.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
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Looking good Dave! You are so lucky to live near Luis!
 
Geez Dave, it's not fair that you can custom order direct. Man, I would love to have a LFdM 16" concert. Seriously though, should be another keeper. I wonder how the sinker cedar compares to sinker redwood in tone?
 
@ Keod.....Casey I appreciate the nice compliments I really like the looks as well. I do trust Luis, his ears are how he makes great sounding ukes.

@ Jerryc41...Doing the build in progress threads are a lot of fun for everyone. I will keep the pictures coming

@ DownUpDick ...Hey brother DUD, I am stocking up on nice ukes for my retirement, 5 more years. Maybe I sell some maybe I keep them all
 
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@ Kohanmike.....Myrtle can vary so much in color and grain it seems to cover the whole spectrum. Makes finding what you like very possible, I hope you find one that floats your boat.

@ Doc J....Hey Hodge thanks so much, yes I am very lucky to live close to Luis. Gets expensive though, kid in a candy store scenario!!!!

@ Steve....Thank you, I wish Luis would make a concert for you but he only does tenors and baritones. From what I understand sinker cedar compared to sinker redwood sounds the same as non-sinker. The redwood is usually a bit brighter with maybe more volume. As you know the individual piece of wood can vary in tone. The five tops he had all had a bit different tone but very close to one another.
 
Dang Dave, It's going to be a stunner. Congrats on another wonderful instrument coming up.

My Jumbo baritone is in the beginning stages of finally being built. It'll be the body size of a tenor guitar with a 1 3/8" wide 21.88" scale and, like yours, a bit deeper in the body. With a deeper body, you may have to go with a custom case to fit. He also made my parlor with a deeper body. The case he had with it just didn't fit right so had to go with an Armitage case. He just charged me what he paid for it otherwise it would have been a 650.00 case. I think I paid 268.00 for it. They're heavy and well built and a really good fit. Wish I could find something a little lighter as I don't need a tank to protect it.

Will post photos when I can get down there to click a few. Like you and Luis; my guy, George E. Thomas guitars, lives about 20 minutes away.
 
Congratulations my friend, great choices of wood! If I'd live that close to Luis, I'd have a second or third LFdM on its way as well. What a great idea to go down the super tenor road, I'm sure the concept will work very well with Luis's design.
 
Congratulations on what is going to be a fabulous instrument. So enjoy you sharing the build progression.
Can’t wait to hear what are going to be some beautiful, rich tones out of this fantastic build.
 
@ Patrick.....Thanks for the compliments. You should do a build in progress thread on your upcoming jumbo baritone. It sounds really interesting and I know you love your new parlor guitar from the same builder

@ Lapyang....I am looking forward to playing it. Will be ready sometime in Sept/Oct.

@ Solorule... Hey Brenda we know how good our tenors are, she has the same wood combo on her's as I do on mine. I don't image this will be better, it might, just a different tone because of the different woods. The longer scale, non-cutaway, round sound hole and deeper body will all make a bit of a difference. It will be an interesting comparison
 
@ Rakelele....Rainer I image if you lived as close to Luis as I do you would have at least 3-4 LfdMs and a short scale guitar or two:music:

@SpicySteve...Thank you very much I am sure it will sound as good or better than it looks. His set ups are always perfect and these are the easiest instruments I have ever played and that means a lot to me.
 
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