“Turtle” Shamel Ash and Pomelle Sapele
Tenor
For Sale at Island Bazaar, Huntington Beach, CA
Sold
Click on pictures to enlarge.
I am calling this Shamel Ash and Pomelle Sapele tenor "Turtle" because the Pomelle Sapele back and sides have a definite turtle shell look to them.
The top is made of Shamel Ash (aka Evergreen ash), a tropical ash from Mexico that is used for landscaping in So. Cal.The dark markings are probably why Taylor rejected this piece, but I really like it.
The Taylor Guitar company calls this wood "Urban Ash" and has used it for backs and sides calling it similar in sound to the "old mahogany".
I figured that if it sounded like mahogany, it should work as a soundboard as well. I guessed right. It has a nice clear sound that projects very well.
Taylor just started using it for soundboards as well.
Click here to see what Taylor Guitar has to say about Shamel Ash.
The accent woods are red Mallee burl. The neck is Honduran Mahogany with a carbon bar for reinforcement.
The fingerboard and bridge are East Indian rosewood..
The rosette is pomelle (quilted) sapele.
​
Tuners are black Gotoh interplanetary tuners.
The back and sides are pomelle (or quilted) sapelle that I got from Mike at Elite Tonewoods. Even though sapele comes from Africa, it is very closely related to mahogany. The figuring on this sapele is very similar to the very famous mahogany wood from "The Tree".
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 strings are a Pepe Romero wound low G with custom high carbon fluorocarbon string for the rest.
