“Rocky” Engelmann Spruce and Koa
Tenor
For Sale at Island Bazaar in Huntington Beach, CA
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This may be the prettiest ukulele I have made so far. I'm calling it "Rocky" because Engelmann Spruce grows primarily in the Rocky Mountain. I almost called it "Root Beer" because the back reminded me of an old fashion root beer barrel candy.
There was a lady in the store waiting for me to deliver the new ukuleles when I got there. She instantly fell in love with this one and took it home with her.
I was happy for her and Island Bazaar, but I was a little sad that it never had a chance to go up on the wall so other people could see it.
Most spruce top you see are Sitka Spruce. I had a couple Engelmann Spruce tops with an amazing tap tone, so I decided to use one. I was not disappointed. This uke has a beautiful bright tone without being brassy, but with a lot of volume.
The accent woods are red Malle burl. The neck is Honduran mahogany with a carbon bar for reinforcement.
I really like the silvery stripe on the sides.
The fingerboard, bridge and binding are East Indian rosewood.
The rosette is koa with an blue paua abalone inlay. The purfling is also blue paua abalone.
The back and sides are a very pretty curly koa with a goldish tone to it.
When I use koa, I usually use it for the front too. This set didn't have a front and I am very happy with the result.
As always this uke has a sound side port that allows the player to hear the same sound as the audience.
The sides are pretty crazy.
The neck is Honduran mahogany with a carbon reinforcement rod.
The tuners are black Gotoh interplanetary tuners.
The string are a Pepe Romero wound low G with custom super carbon fluorocarbon treble strings.
