Sweet padouk.. (padauk?)

Here it is! My second build so far. Pretty pleased with the looks but this one doesn't sound as good as I wanted it to.. Possibly the outcome of my bracing which is going to get some modification before the next projeckt.. Specks: fingerboard, bridge, sides & back: indian rosewood; top & headplate padouk; bracing spruce; neck and blocks are made out of finish wood called "raita". Don't know what that would be in english but pretty nice looking wood.. Hope you enjoy it!

ps. in the second picture is my just finished schoolwork also.. notice the matching headstocks..

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Cool! It really looks great!

Kokkeli91 said:

Here it is! My second build so far. Pretty pleased with the looks but this one doesn't sound as good as I wanted it to.. Possibly the outcome of my bracing which is going to get some modification before the next projeckt.. Specks: fingerboard, bridge, sides & back: indian rosewood; top & headplate padouk; bracing spruce; neck and blocks are made out of finish wood called "raita". Don't know what that would be in english but pretty nice looking wood.. Hope you enjoy it!

ps. in the second picture is my just finished schoolwork also.. notice the matching headstocks..

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Interesting uke. For the sake of discussion, why did you choose to offset the sound hole and why that bracing pattern?

Thaks!
I was trying to maximize the free movement of the top without warping it under the string tension. To me the upper parts of the top don't play much role in the sound production so it seemed like a good idea to move the sound hole out of the way to the "dead" zone. But apparently I was wrong or just didn't manage to execute this top well since the sound did not improve as I was hoping. But like I said I am going to make some alterations to my top bracing in the future...

I just like to experiment with my projects. This one wasn't a great success but at least it still looks rather nice.. Better luck next time!

I love that guitar headstock. Very innovative, yet functional

The uke looks nice but I don't think you should run the two purfling lines through the top. You have broken the top into 3 pieces, separated by purfling. I think that would really dampen the vibrations on the top, especially if its fiber purfling.

Thanks ksquine! I am really proud of it my self too The purfling is made out of colored wood veneers and I know that it isn't the best possible way to make a top. The original idea was to make padouk sides and back. But after severely cracking both side pieces I had to give up on them and go for the plan b aka rosewood sides & back. I really like the look of padouk and I wanted to use the back peace that I had. So I decided to use it for the top. Probably not the best idea but I didn't really think about how the purflings would effect the sound production... Maybe I'm just too young? Well I'll know better next time and instead of using leftover padouk I'll go for the nice finish spruce tops I have in stock. To live and learn I guess...

Go with the Spruce.