Craig's Custom Curly Oregon Myrtle Tenor
Click on pictures to enlarge.
This ukulele is Oregon Myrtle (aka California Bay Laurel) from Pacific Coast Woods. This is a custom order from a musician in Santa Barbara. We met at the Los Angeles UkeFest this year and he gave me a call a short time later.
He wanted myrtle, so I sent him some pictures of a few different sets. He chose this one with heavy, almost tiger stripe, curl. Good choice!
This ukulele, like most myrtle ukes, has a nice colorful warm sound with excellent articulation.
This wood set was so beautifully quarter sawn that the front and back are almost exactly the same. This is not the norm with such a highly patterned piece of wood.
The neck is a light colored Black Limba with a koa runner up the middle and a carbon truss rod. I like the runner but I didn't realize the extra care it takes to make sure the back seam, point of the heel, seam and point of the head stock and the runner are all lined up perfectly.
The accents are a grainy slightly curly koa.
I like the look of this particular koa with the myrtle. Luckily I have quite a bit of it, because I have a lot of myrtle sets too. :)
After I took these picture I installed a MiSi pickup in this uke at the request of the new owner. I can't wait to hear/see a video of it being played in his band!
The side of this one are just as curly as the top and back, plus a light colored stripe.
All PCH ukuleles come standard with a side sound port. It helps the player hear the same sound as his audience without sacrificing any performance.
The headstock is the same myrtle as the top.
The tuners are black Gotoh Interplanetary tuners. Strings are a Pepe Romero wound low g string with custom high carbon fluorocarbon strings.
Can you tell I like Myrtle?
The variety of looks is almost endless and the sound can't be beat.
There is a good reason it is so popular with West Coast luthiers.
