NUD: Cocobolo Cedar/Cocobolo Concert

Larry U

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Many of you may be familiar with Kevin Keith's "Cocobolo Ukulele" workshop in Nicaragua, where they craft a variety of excellent ukuleles made from local cocobolo wood. Demand for these instruments is high and production is limited, so he has had to resort to a Facebook lottery system to select those eligible to purchase one. I've been entering his lotteries for the last year or two, but without success until last week when I received a note from Kevin that the winner of the previous lottery was not able to complete the purchase and I was the runner-up. I gave my bank account a hard look and decided that yes, I could do this! I placed the order, transferred the funds, and yesterday morning, DHL showed up at my door with this!

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It's a concert size with a Western Red Cedar top, Cocobolo back and sides, side sound port, Mahogany neck, Cocobolo radiused fretboard, Cocobolo bridge, Cocobolo Headstock plate (front and back), Grover geared tuners, and Worth Brown strings (High G). A case was also included.

The strings are still settling in but so far it sounds lovely, feels great, and looks fabulous!

Once I get a little more familiar with it, I'll try to post a sound sample.

The only thing I found to complain about was there were too many string windings around one of the tuning posts. A quick unwinding and trimming off the extra 4-5 inches took care of that.
 
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Congrats! I wonder how different the sound is from that cedar top vs the coco tops. I guess we'll see.

BTW, they're in Nicaragua, not Honduras.
 
Congrats! I wonder how different the sound is from that cedar top vs the coco tops. I guess we'll see.

BTW, they're in Nicaragua, not Honduras.

Oops! Corrected.

I don't have any experience with the cocobolo tops but when comparing it with my KoAloha koa concert, it's a little more smooth and mellow. Of course, compared to a KoAloha, an air raid siren is mellow!
 
That's one good looking ukulele! I'm interested to hear it...……….cedar/cocobolo: an interesting combo.
 
Wow, that’s one sweet looking uke. Congrats.
 
Beautiful! I keep entering and losing. :(

I've been entering regularly since he started the lottery system. Hang in there...it'll come eventually. Also, keep your eye on sales of used instruments. They do show up occasionally. I just saw a post from a member here who mentioned he's considering selling his.
 
Congratulations! Good things are worth waiting for. :)
It looks lovely. Looking forward to hearing a sound sample.
Enjoy your new ukulele!
 
I love the Cocobolo fretboard on your instrument. Just gorgeous.

Kevin is a great guy if you have any questions. But be aware that his father had a heart attack. So he and his wife have been back to the States a couple of times to be with him.
 
I love the Cocobolo fretboard on your instrument. Just gorgeous.

Kevin is a great guy if you have any questions. But be aware that his father had a heart attack. So he and his wife have been back to the States a couple of times to be with him.

I find myself just staring at the fretboard...it's fascinating!

Kevin's Dad is home, doing much better, and on the road to recovery. Kevin has returned to Nicaragua and the Cocobolo Ukulele operation is operating as normal.
 
Fretboard detail. The grain is magical!
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First off congratulations on a beautiful instrument. Secondly that fretborad is mesmerizing, one could get acid flash backs from that sucker. That is 70s humor for all you young ones that are wondering what I am talking about.

Enjoy it, I imagine the aroma of cedar and cocobolo together is intoxicating.
 
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Nice! Do you happen to have tab for the song you're playing? It might be interesting if I could play it on my all coco and see if we could hear the difference. Wouldn't be apples-to-apples anyway as mine is 16" scale with Southcoast strings, but still.
 
That extra string mentioned in the OP explains why the Worth Browns are so expensive at Cocobolo.

They are usually sold in double length, that gives two sets for a normal 15" concert. With not much extra length for holding when stringing compared to other concert strings. I think it would be difficult to get two string sets for 16“ scale from them, and with several inches extra length on it, they obviously didnt try.
So there is used two sets Worth of strings for it.
 
Sounded very nice. I liked the projection a little better than the all-Cocobolo ones I have heard. Your playing is also very good. Thanks for posting the video.

Is the neck teak? I think I read they switched from Cocobolo to using teak with a sandwiched Cocobolo center piece to add strength.
 
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