Belated NUD - Barron River 8 String Tenor - Black Limba & Lutz Spruce

The NUD was really last week but I'm suffering from Plague induced time dilation perceptual dissonance and rarely know what day it is lately.

Anyway last week I received another wonderfull instrument from Allen McFarlen (Barron River Guitars and Ukuleles). This acquisition rounds off the restructure of my Uke collection to reflect my desire to own a range of instrument with unique sonic signatures and not to have multiples of similar instruments (no matter how nice that would be).

Once again Allen has delivered everything I was expecting and more. I have found that is always the case with a Barron River instrument. Allen's 8 strings are the best that I have personally ever experienced. Bright, powerful bell like tones intertwine into complex but pleasing overtones. Projection is stupendous, intonation is spot on way up to the 15th fret.

The specs are:
Body: Black Limba (slightly brighter than mahogany).
Soundboard: Lutz Spruce (a natural hybrid of Sitka and white spruce that provides a higher volume ceiling).
Neck: Sapele
Fretboard: Indian Rosewood
Rosette: Australian Blackwood and Pau Shell
Peg Head Veneers: Indian Rosewood & Pau Shell inlay.
Bridge: Indian Rosewood
Bindings: Indian Rosewood
Tuners: Rubner Mandolin open geared.
Pick up: K&K Aloha Twin

A few more photos:

That's fantastic. Would love to hear a sound clip.

Counter said:

That's fantastic. Would love to hear a sound clip.

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If I can get off my lazy arse I'll do one soon and post it on this thread.

Very nice lookinG ukulele. I bet the sound is awesome. Great choice of woods. Alan’s workmanship is great. Congrats.

Looks beautiful, congrats! Lots of interesting woods and I'm sure it sounds even better than it looks...

A beautiful looking 8-string, Hollis. The Sound port is a nice touch as are the position markers and the Rubner tuners. What did you have it strung with?

Truly elegant. Looking forward to a sound sample.

Kenn2018 said:

A beautiful looking 8-string, Hollis. The Sound port is a nice touch as are the position markers and the Rubner tuners. What did you have it strung with?

Truly elegant. Looking forward to a sound sample.

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Thanks Ken. Re strings, as I have still been loving the Thomastik-Infeld/Savarez Frankenstein set that I have been using for a few years now, I went for them. For the octave pairs I referenced the Worth clear 8 string set for the high string diameters. They turned out fine. I made an error in just doubling up my normal trebles though. The result was that the treble pairs are just too high tension for my liking. Playable but not comfortable. As I used to be a 12 string guitar player I should have remembered that those guitars use a lighter string set than 6 stringers.

I have just ordered some new trebles to try out. Oh well, strings are cheap and I have always believed that finding the best strings for any particular instrument is a mandatory journey.

Hope that you and yours are all safe and doing well.

Hollis that is one outstanding instrument. Allen never disappoints with the quality of his work and this one just radiates class and craftsmanship. Congratulations on a wonderful 8 string ukulele that is bound to give you years of enjoyment

DownUpDave said:

Hollis that is one outstanding instrument. Allen never disappoints with the quality of his work and this one just radiates class and craftsmanship. Congratulations on a wonderful 8 string ukulele that is bound to give you years of enjoyment

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Thanks Dave. I am very happy to have an 8 string again. I ultimately regretted rehoming the original one that Allen had built for me. The very good friend that I sold that one to tells me that he plays it almost every day. Which is what I have been doing with this new one.
I’m completely satisfied with the wood set that Allen recommended. I had never heard of those two wood species before but I had a high level of trust in Allen‘a ability to craft a fabulous instrument. He surely justified that trust.

Congratulations, that's a beauty. I just love that headstock. 8 string ukes are fun to play, if you can manage it. Wifey has a Kamaka, she can make it sing. I Make it suck.

Thanks! My muscle memory, or should I say fingertip memory, is coming back pretty quickly and I'm having a lot of fun playing it a number of times a day. An 8 string Uke really crosses the boarder into 12 stinglandia in a way that even 6 strings ukes (which I have had) don't. This is an instrument that you can either play solo or selectively with 4 string players on certain songs IMO. I'm writing more of my own Raga/Ragtime/Reels nowadays. With my current collection of instruments (there's a Appalachian Dulcimer there too), I better start to learn to do multitrack recording.