"Extra Curly" Oregon Myrtle Tenor
On Sale now at Hale Ukulele in San Diego, CA
Sold
Click on pictures to enlarge.
Although the top and back/sides of this Oregon Myrtle ukulele look like they match, they were actually purchased a year apart from Vince at Pacific Coast Woods.
Either way, they go very well to together. Rick at Hale Ukulele said he wanted, "something pretty". I think this fills the bill.
It sound great too.
There is a lot going on on this back. The colors and the wavy vertical stripes are very nice, then add that amazing curl and Wow!
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The center stripe is East Indian rosewood that matches the binding.
The accents are from the dark koa boards I like to use with my myrtle instruments. Thanks to Hank Johnson (Kimo Ukuleles) I have quite bit, but I will sad when its gone.
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The neck is White Limba (aka - Korean) with a carbon reinforcement rod. Limba has a density very similar to mahogany, but the colors match better for myrtle and mango ukes in my opinion.
Top is really pretty and has a wonderful warmth to its tone. The rosette is East Indian rosewood as is the binding. I really like the purplish color of this rosewood with the tone of most of the myrtle I get in.
I made the sound hole a little bigger than normally do on this uke. I didn't seem to make any noticeable difference in the sound.
The headstock is the same curly myrtle as the top. Depending on what angle you view it the curl marks will form a perfect chevron. At other angles, not so much.
The tuners are black Gotoh Interplanetary tuners.
Strings are a Pepe Romero wound low g string with custom high carbon fluorocarbon strings.
It is no secret that Myrtle is my favorite tone wood. It works relatively easily (and has a spicy smell), it comes in a huge variety of colors, patterns and curls, but most importantly it sounds great.
Out of the nearly 40 ukuleles I have produced, 3 of my top 5 favorites are Myrtle tenors.