Help: Wood Choice on New Tenor Build

This is a custom built instrument. I don’t think you need to be concerned about fit and finish and action and intonation etc...like you would with mass production instrument. However , Be careful of the wood choice. You need to understand what wood combo sounds best! I can not say enough that the luthier knows best. Do not guess and assume the wood you have in mind will sound good. Listen to the luthier. Let’s him tell you what’s the best combination! You need to trust your luthier .
Mr. Shields thought spruce was the way to go given my description of what I wanted in sound. As soon as he said that I knew that was the right choice. Then he gave me the choice of back and sides(walnut or cherry) since they are similar in tone. In this case it was just what I wanted for color. So you are right and I did listen to his suggestion. Took awhile to get to those decisions since I had a hard time describing what I wanted to hear. But eventually he got me and knew what woods to use.
 
Excellent choice, congratulations. Now the hardest part.......waiting for it to be built and delivered


So true as I stand here with my other uke, strumming and dreaming of my future Fred Shields Tenor....
 
Congratulation....it is a great choice indeed.
Look forward to reading your NUD when you received it.
 
Congratulations! It should be a fine instrument. I have a walnut/spruce tenor that sounds excellent. The spruce projects and enhances the sustain a lot.
 
Awesome choice!! Fred built me a Curly Redwood with Walnut back and sides super concert. I love it! He really is nice to talk to. I have a friend who just commissioned a Uke from him and he and I have been emailing back and forth again . . . ;)
 
Top Bottom