Tenor Ukulele Photoset

Pete Howlett

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Pencil Cedar front self colour - this stuff just 'blushes' then goes the most fantastic vintage orange all by itself.

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Since this is going to Utah I've got the necessary CITES permit for the Indian Rosewood back and sides. The mahogany neck is stained the 'old fashioned' way (furniture restoration technique) using green and brown transparent lacquer to get a 'Victorian' mahogany look. Adjustable height Gohtos with ivoroid buttons gives it a further classic look.

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It took me some time to get everything right with this inlay which I have now scaled to fit concert and super-tenor size instruments. I've also figured out a way to speed up the machining process. It only takes an hour now to cut the pocket and 20 minutes to cut the vine, signature and lines... that's the good news. It takes an awful lot longer than it used to with my progressive limited motor function to actually get the pearl into a fingerboard and head plate. Oh and I have to remember to blow ALL of the pearl dust out of the slots before I soak the board in water because pearl dust and water = casting plaster...

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I've said it all - this is a gratuitous shot....
 
Incense cedar is what my supplier calls it. It is harvested lumber from the Biscuit Fire of 2002... I like the name pencil cedar.I've done some preliminary research trying to find out which species were lost to the fire but most articles seems to focus on either the controversy of the largeness of it or the disputes over the salvage operation. My man got a log, I got some of this rare wood and that's my story. You may wish to try and rewrite it for me Seqoia but my source stands closer to the horse....
 
I would agree with "incense cedar", (Calocedrus decurrens) which is a western US species, and the Biscuit Fire was in southern Oregon and northern California. Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is just that, an eastern species. It does not generally get very big, and often has many knots since it is quite rot resistant and the old small limbs do not rot away, so they poke through even the old parts of the tree down along the base of the trunk. Eastern red cedar is very aromatic, and this is what is used to line moth-proof closets and trunks. It cuts a vivid pink-purple that rather quickly changes to a warm orange-brown. Makes a good top. I have some nice billets that I got from some old trees the power company took down.
 
Right, the "Eastern red cedar" is actually a juniper. Hence, the Genus name Juniperus.
 
Oh boy, that's a lot of blingy blingy :D
 
Easy to see why there is confusion here. Both species are or have been used for making pencils. Using Juniperus viginiana (Eastern Red Cedar) for pencils generally ended in the 1940s while Calocedrus decurrens (California incense cedar) is still widely used for pencils. Pete's wood is obviously incense cedar. Not all that rare in the western US, though Pete's Biscuit Fire cedar may be. I have sometimes found suitable pieces for ukulele tops in the fence board stack at the local lumber yard. Makes a great sounding top. BTW both are in the Cupressaceae (cypress) family, not Cedrus (cedar) family. More confusion.
 
I believe it's 'rare' because I have not seen it offered commercially and it's not carried by any of the regular luthier tonewoods suppliers. So unless you know otherwise, I'm going to 'own' the rare tag... any other builders apart from Les Stansell out there who have built a substantial number of ukulele or guitars from this wood? C'mon; own up :)
 
I've only built a couple of ukuleles with the incense cedar I have but I don't get much call for it either. Probably because it's rather soft. I have enough incense cedar to build about a dozen if I wanted to and if that stash runs out I know where to get more at about a buck fifty a top. You can see one of mine at https://franklinguitars.com/Site/Ukuleles.html. It's the olive body ukulele.

Jerry Hoffman is another builder who has used it and he's in Missouri. I guess availability isn't just limited to California and Oregon.

You're right about the luthier supply houses not carrying it. Not so sure why because there's plenty of it. You can even get incense cedar decking. So not so rare here but I guess it's rare in the UK.
 
The cedar we have in the UK is an imported specie - Cedar of Lebanon. Great aroma but useless for instruments because being a dessert specie that drinks when it can, in a temperate climate it grows really fast....
 
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