If ever you have the opportunity, I recommend that you give an Iriguchi ukulele a pick and strum. The sound is rich and velvety...maybe like Shepard’s pie on a snowy evening after a day spent shoveling snow. Mine is made of birdseye maple and poplar. It offers unique looks while pro it’s and pleasurable sound. Joy in every strum . It’s too great to not share.
Nice. I don’t recall sampling one of his redwood instruments. It’s really cool to find such a quality maker who is willing exploring the non-Koa, sustainable wood space. As for mine, it really blew my mind that such a sound could be produced from a maple instrument. I wonder about the amazing combination of wood, architecture and maker. Even more so, I wonder how David Iriguchi is not a world famous luthier.
Honestly, I think it's mostly a matter of aesthetics. Wabi sabi isn't for everyone and use of poplar is very unusual too. Sailor brand also uses poplar but feels compelled to cover it up with fancy veneers.
Feel free to post some pics and sound samples of yours.
If ever you have the opportunity, I recommend that you give an Iriguchi ukulele a pick and strum. The sound is rich and velvety...maybe like Shepard’s pie on a snowy evening after a day spent shoveling snow. Mine is made of birdseye maple and poplar. It offers unique looks while pro it’s and pleasurable sound. Joy in every strum . It’s too great to not share.
Yeah, sound is hard to share, especially with just an iPhone. My tone was really measured against a KoAloha tenor I found a deal on.
In any case, I couldn’t be happier. If feels like I’ve got my dream ukulele! I truly thought I was destined for a Hawaiian koa instrument. It’s funny how things turn out.
As a Northern Californian I would absolutely love to try out an Iriguchi some time to potentially own something local. The one thing I know nothing about is pricing though. Does anyone know how much they typically go for?
(My expectations are reasonable here... even if he often uses more inexpensive woods, it's still an independent luthier in California making what appear to be really nice knstruments!)