I use a variety of woods, in part to create interesting instruments and to be able to compare sound quality, and in part because I've had some planks of a few wood species sitting around in my workshop for many years, with no other specific project in mind. In some of the photos below, you can see a small secondary label on the inside side of the ukuleles - this lists the woods used in each instrument.
I rub three coats of Tried & True Varnish Oil onto each finished ukulele, and am very pleased with the results. You have to apply it thinly, and allow it a few days for it to polymerize and dry. For four of the ukuleles (#12, 13, 16, 17) I had tried a brushed finish using Enduro-Var water-based urethane. It looks good, but is very difficult to apply - it sets too quickly, and leaves streaks - so I am unlikely to use it again.
#15 Ni'ihau Tenor Ukulele (Spalted Mango, Sitka)
#19 Hawai'i Tenor Ukulele (Black Bean)
Another in the Black Bean series (see below). Scale length 17", woods as for the ukuleles shown below. This one will be my personal Low-G ukulele. Coming from a classical guitar background, I prefer to play without dots, so there are none on this instrument. Good volume, sweet sound.
#20 Kaua'I Baritone, 21 Moloka'I Bass, & 23 Lehua Soprano Ukuleles (Black Bean)
The Soprano, Baritone, and Bass are the first three completed in what is intended to be a matched set of six ukuleles of various sizes. The others will be a Tenor, a Concert, and a Sopraniño. The primary wood used is Black Bean for the backs & sides, headplates, and soundboards (Soprano, Baritone). The Bass has a Cedar soundboard. The scale lengths are: 13.0" (Soprano), and 20.0" (Baritone and Bass).
Black Bean (castanospermum australe), also known as Moreton Bay Chestnut, is an Australian tropical wood which grows in rainforests from northern New South Wales through Queensland and up into the Northern Territory. It also grows in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. I was lucky enough to have acquired two planks of this timber about 40 years ago - probably for some long-forgotten furniture project which I never got around to. When I resawed them, I found that the heartwood was quite attractive. With interleaving strands of fibre ranging from a cream colour through mid-browns and to a chocolate brown, it resembles the texture of fur. Rubbed with oil, a caramel hue accentuates the interleaving texture. Contrary to some information on the internet, Black Bean bends well, in the thicknesses used for instrument building. I usually thin this wood to about 0.06" to 0.065", but for the Bass, I went a little thicker at 0.07").
The other woods are: Bloodwood (fretboard and bridge), Philippine Mahogany (neck), Spalted Mango (rosette tiles), and Australian Silver Ash (binding). The Bass uses Ebony for the saddle and nut.
The small triangle that you can see on the back of each instrument in the second photo was originally added to one of the instruments in order to mask a defect. To keep the set matching, and because I liked the decoration so much, I added it to the other five.
The Bass is in the style of Kala's hollow-body U-Bass, although the body size, scale length, bridge, and other features differ. It uses Aquila Thundergut plastic strings. From what I could find on the internet, the tension of these strings is somewhere between that of a baritone ukulele string set and a classical guitar string set. Because the top is cedar, I erred on the safe side and made the soundboard a little thicker and more heavily braced than I might otherwise have done.
See the description on the Techniques page for the approach I use for threading the Thundergut strings through the bridge from the underside.
The Baritone and Bass are wired with L.R. Baggs Element Active System pickups, which seem to work very well for ukuleles of these tonal ranges. (A Baritone is tuned D-G-B-E like the top four strings of a guitar, and a Bass Ukulele is tuned E-A-D-G like a Bass Guitar or Double Bass, an octave below the lower four strings of a guitar).
The Soprano sounds good, but not exceptional. It will be a useful travel ukulele.
It is interesting to see what going up three body sizes makes. Unamplified, the Baritone simply roars from the soundhole with even a light strum. Its E-string lacks brightness, but overall the deep, warm sound from the instrument should allow it to stand out true to its name as the baritone voice in a ukulele ensemble.
U-Bass-type instruments need amplification. I don't have enough experience with them to assess the Bass's sound quality, but it seems to work well. I learned that you have to play gently and let the amplifier do the work - otherwise you get excessive string wobble on the E string.
#16 Nalukākala, and #17 Mokumana Concert Ukuleles (Black Ash, Sitka)
These two concert ukuleles are identical. Good tone and volume. The woods used are: Black Ash (back & sides), Sitka Spruce (soundboard), Philippine Mahogany (neck), Black Bean (fingerboard), Bloodwood (bridge), Black Walnut (back inlay), Teak (binding), and Zebrawood (head plate). The rosette is inlaid with tiles of Koa. Scale length: 15.0".
The black ash is from Minnesota and was given to me by a friend who is in the wood business (thanks again, Jim!). The walnut inlay on the back is actually there for a practical reason: the black ash was not quite wide enough to make a concert ukulele. I could have solved this problem by using a back strip in the centre, but it would have had to be fairly wide. The spear-shaped inlay seems more pleasing to the eye.
#12 Pihemanu Concert Ukulele, and #13 Holoikauaua Tenor Ukulele (Mahogany, Cedar)
#12 - #23 Ukuleles in Progress
I make ukuleles using most of the same techniques I use to build guitars. I think I spend about two hours on the average ukulele for every three I would spend in building a guitar. My methods are clearly not very efficient, but for the most part I've been happy with the results, especially the sound. There are efficiencies in working on twelve at once, but it does lead to weariness with the current step - which is sometimes measured in weeks.
#11 Mokupāpapa Concert Ukulele (Cracker Tin)
Another novelty instrument, to see what kind of sound a cracker tin might produce. I suspect that this Jacob & Co. Cream Crackers tin might be from the 1950's (on the back, it refers to H.M. the Queen). The soundhole is on the end, for aesthetic reasons. Bolt on Philippine Mahogany neck, screw-on bridge (with a little help from some superglue). For stability, there is an inner wooden frame which butts against the two ends only, leaving all four other surfaces to vibrate freely. To eliminate any rattle, many of the wood surfaces which might otherwise touch the metal are recessed and/or buffered with strips of felt.
I was expecting a tinny, brash, percussive sound and was surprised to find that the sound, although tinny, is very sweet. Not a lot in the overtone department, and very soft. O.K. for a solo instrument but it would be drowned out in group playing.
#10 Mokumanamana Tenor Ukulele (Padauk, Sitka)
The other name I like for this one is: The Sun of Manakoora. The intention in building this tenor ukulele with a 12" round soundbox was to see if elimination of the waist (which has little use in a ukulele) could result in increased sound volume. It has asymetrical bracing in order to enlarge the resonating area of the soundboard, and to enhance the trebles. The experiment was not successful, as ironically, the sound is softer than much smaller ukuleles. It has a bright tone that sounds best when strummed, rather than plucked.
The design on the soundboard was secondary. The outline of the drawing was inlaid using rosette strips, and the picture was then painted in acrylic. Scale length: 17.0". The woods used are: Padauk (back & sides), Sitka Spruce (soundboard), Bloodwood (fretboard, headplate, and binding), Ebony (bridge), and Philippine Mahogany (neck).
To some extent, this is a novelty instrument, but it sits nicely on the lap and in that sense is very convenient to play.
#9 Pūhāhonu Concert Ukulele (Mahogany)
Nice tone on the warm side, good volume. The woods used are: Honduras Mahogany (back & sides, soundboard), Black Bean (fretboard), Bloodwood (bridge), Philippine Mahogany (neck), and Monkeypod (headplate). Tortoiseshell binding and rosette inlay. Scale length: 15.0".
#8 Kauō Tenor Ukulele (Mahogany)
Warm tone with good volume. Has a slightly deeper voice than the mahogany concert ukulele (above) possibly in part due to the extra-large soundhole. The woods used are: Honduras Mahogany (back & sides, soundboard), Black Bean (fretboard), Bloodwood (bridge), Philippine Mahogany (neck), and Monkeypod (headplate). Tortoiseshell binding and rosette inlay. Scale length: 17.0".
#7 O'ahu Concert Ukulele (Black Bean)
A nice warm sound favouring the notes on the C-string; less bright than the mahogany concert ukulele (#9 above). The woods used are: Black Bean (back & sides, soundboard, headplate), Bloodwood (fretboard), Bloodwood (dyed black) (bridge), Philippine Mahogany (neck), and Australian Silver Ash (binding). Scale length: 15.0".
#6 Papa'āpoho Tenor Ukulele (Bloodwood, Cedar)
#5 Kaho'olawe Concert Ukulele (Koa, Sitka)
The sound quality of this ukulele exceeded our expectations. Unamplified, it has a warm, sweet tone with rich overtones, volume to spare, and excellent sustain. The L.R. Baggs Five-O pickup is superb. Shirley waited a long time for this one, and once she heard it, instantly made it her #1 ukulele. The woods used are: Koa (back & sides, rosette inlay), Sitka Spruce (soundboard), Bloodwood (fretboard and bridge), Mahogany (neck), Monkeypod (headplate), and Australian Silver Ash (binding). Scale length: 15.0".
