it's such a beautiful wood, but i read that it is very brittle. what parts of the ukulele would be suitable to make with purple heart? how bout the sap wood? is it brittle as well?
I just used some purple heart for the peghead overlay and fretboard on a banjo. It is the first time that I've used it for an instrument and it seems to work well in this application. It is brittle, but seems like a good, dense, hard wood for the fingerboard. More experienced builders may have found otherwise, however.
We've used it for various parts, including the topwood of a bass (e-bass that is) on top of an alder body. I would not say it's easy to work with. Especially drilling and routing can be a problem as the edges can tear unexpectedly. But it's worth it :music: