This soprano pineapple ukulele and the conventionally-shaped sycamore-black walnut ukulele were the product of a collaboration with the Omaha Wood Company. The inspiration for this project came from Aaron Keim of Beansprout Musical Instruments. Aaron builds his ukuleles from sustainably- and often locally-sourced woods. I was excited to find that Mark Sundermeier of Omaha Wood Company specializes in “salvaging beautiful wood from the urban forest.” I spent a few hours earlier this year talking with Mark and his daughter about woods that might be suitable in my ukuleles. I ended up selecting sycamore, black walnut, American elm, and honey locust. This ukulele features sycamore and black walnut, both of which yielded very attractive sets of wood.
The two ukuleles that comprise this project are constructed identically. The only difference is the body shape. I wanted to find out what tonal differences, if any, resulted from the different body shapes. My sense is that the conventionally-shaped ukulele is brighter and slightly louder; the pineapple sounds fuller and more balanced.
The components are:
Sycamore top (2-piece)
Black walnut back (2-piece)
Black walnut sides (2-piece)
Silver maple and black walnut neck
Sycamore and black walnut face plate
Black walnut fretboard with sycamore fret markers
Black walnut fretboard binding
Black walnut bridge with sycamore inlay
Ebony nut and saddle (compensated)
Sycamore tail stripe
Sycamore heel cap
Black walnut sound hole rosette
Sycamore strap buttons
Graphtec tune-a-lele tuners
UkeLogic fluorocarbon strings (soft tension, high G, “Sandia” pink carbon)
Tru-Oil finish
Weight: 13.1 oz. (371 g)
Sound sample of Aloha ‘Oe and the intro & outro for Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s Over the Rainbow.
