“The Burbs” Shamel Ash and Sycamore
Concert
For Sale at Hale Ukulele in San Diego, CA
Click on pictures to enlarge.
This is the other concert that Ric wanted. We equipped it with a low G and boy does it sound nice. A customer grabbed it out of the case as I delivered it and played it while the 3 of us talked for about a half hour. I sounded wonderful.
This ukulele is almost entirely made of materials harvested from the streets and yards of neighborhoods in Southern California. The only parts that are not from urban areas are the Amazon Rosewood fretboard and bridge.
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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.
The accent woods are black walnut sapwood that has a little curl and a nice compression grain. The neck is Shamel Ash with a carbon bar for reinforcement.
The fingerboard and bridge are an interesting piece of Amazon rosewood that has a little more color variation that your normal fretboard.
The rosette is a bit of black walnut from a local fallen tree.
The back and sides are California Sycamore. The combination of dots and dashes is quite dramatic and variable even on the same board. Sycamore only has these markings when it is quarter sawn. If it is not quarter sawn it not only doesn't have the same figure, the wood tends to move/warp a bit.
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.
