ghostrdr
Well-known member
I'm up in SF for some training and dropped by Blackbird Guitars and met the legendary Joe Luttwak.
What a great guy. Super salt of the earth type of guy. It's pretty rainy in SF, and they had some inventory on hand. They let me play a bunch of Farallon and Clara ukes. Joe hooked me up with Ross who answered all my questions and was really cool.
My conclusions for me, the radius fretboard is nice, but I think I'm good radius or non-radius. The sunburst is really nice. Looks gorgeous. The tone is a little different than the non-sunburst. I want to say the tone is a little more rich, or you could think of it as the non-sunburst is a little more punchy. The sunburst is a little thicker finish and Joe said that it is probably a little more what I'm used to hearing as most ukes have a thicker finish on them.
The side port does make the bass tones louder for the player. It's pretty cool! It's not a huge difference, but it is different. I feel like Blackbird has got it dialed in on what works for them and their instruments. Ross does the setups and it was really comfortable to play and the action was great.
I guess now, I have to go buy one... Fortunately, it looks like they have some inventory now, so hopefully, I'll be able to find one... Time to start saving...
(I know, if there are no pictures, it didn't happen).
View attachment 114808View attachment 114809
What a great guy. Super salt of the earth type of guy. It's pretty rainy in SF, and they had some inventory on hand. They let me play a bunch of Farallon and Clara ukes. Joe hooked me up with Ross who answered all my questions and was really cool.
My conclusions for me, the radius fretboard is nice, but I think I'm good radius or non-radius. The sunburst is really nice. Looks gorgeous. The tone is a little different than the non-sunburst. I want to say the tone is a little more rich, or you could think of it as the non-sunburst is a little more punchy. The sunburst is a little thicker finish and Joe said that it is probably a little more what I'm used to hearing as most ukes have a thicker finish on them.
The side port does make the bass tones louder for the player. It's pretty cool! It's not a huge difference, but it is different. I feel like Blackbird has got it dialed in on what works for them and their instruments. Ross does the setups and it was really comfortable to play and the action was great.
I guess now, I have to go buy one... Fortunately, it looks like they have some inventory now, so hopefully, I'll be able to find one... Time to start saving...
(I know, if there are no pictures, it didn't happen).
View attachment 114808View attachment 114809
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