“Wildcat” Curly Mango Tenor
Custom Build
Click on pictures to enlarge.
This is "Wildcat". I'm calling it that because of the orange on orange curl of the mango.
This tenor was made for the manager at Island Bazaar. He was very interested in the last mango tenor I made, but really liked the new two tone headstock as well, so I made him one that had both.
The front and back are almost identical. The backstrip is a piece of curly koa that matches the binding. Many thanks to Michael at Elite Tonewoods.
He really has some beautiful wood.
The accents are a gold amboyna burl that matches very well with the curly koa binding.
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The neck is curly maple which has a very smooth feel. I was afraid it might be a little heavy, but the ukulele balances very well and is very easy to play.
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Top is really pretty and has a wonderful warmth to its tone. The rosette is blue puau abalone. The binding is curly koa with blue Paua purfling.
The fretboard and the bridge are maccassar ebony.
The headstock is the same mango as the top combined with the same maccassar ebony as the fretboard. I was even able to get the stripes in the fretboard to continue up into the headstock.
The tuners are black Gotoh Interplanetary tuners.
Strings are a Pepe Romero wound low g string with custom high carbon fluorocarbon strings.
The side sound port is for the benefit of the player.
When taking pictures of book matched curly wood it is usually difficult to show that the curl actually matches up. This picture, through no fault of my own, shows that yes, the curl on this uke actually does match up.
