The wood used in this soprano ukulele came from multiple sources. The western red cedar and ebony were a gift from my uncle, Gerry VanNess. The butternut came from a friend whose father was a wood carver. The eastern red cedar is from my favorite local source, Omaha Wood Co. The fir strip in the center of the neck sandwich is from the home of my wife’s family in Kailua, HI. The wenge and birds-eye maple are from a local woodworker’s supply shop. The neck is a five-part sandwich composed of butternut (outer) and eastern red cedar flanking fir at the center. The headstock is a variation on my normal design. I created a heart-shape out of birds-eye maple and anchored it in the center with a strip of wenge.
The ukulele is numbered 2406-10 on the label.
The components are:
Western red cedar top (2-piece)
Eastern red cedar back (2-piece)
Eastern red cedar sides (2-piece)
Douglas (?) fir, eastern red cedar, and butternut neck
Birds-eye maple, eastern red cedar and wenge face plate
Birds-eye maple fretboard with wenge fret markers (5th, 7th, 10th, and 12th frets)
Unspecified softwood fret dots on the side
Wenge binding (fretboard)
Birds-eye maple bridge with wenge inlay
Ebony nut and saddle (compensated)
Wenge tail stripe
Wenge heel cap
Wenge sound hole rosette
Butternut strap buttons
Ebony dust and epoxy headstock logo
Graphtec tune-a-lele tuners
UkeLogic fluorocarbon strings (soft tension, high G, “Sandia” pink carbon)
Weight: 11.7 oz. (333 g) (with strap buttons)
Nut width: 37 mm
String spacing G to A: 30 mm
Sound sample of the intro & outro to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s Over the Rainbow and Hawai’i Aloha (arr. Brett McQueen).
