Jonathan Dale (Jupiter Ukes) posted a photo of a couple of Tenors that he built and had available. The Redwood and English Walnut one caught my eye. As a previous customer of Jon (my Redwood and Sycamore Tenor #77), I knew what to expect. Jon winters in Florida (Jupiter!) but was coming back to his home in Bethlehem, PA for the holidays and was willing to bring the uke up with him. I met him on Wednesday, completed the sale, and drove home with another Jupiter ukulele!
Jonathan likes to avoid using exotic, tropical hardwoods for his instruments and tries to stick with locally harvested, sustainable woods. I've got no complaints about his choices! The top is "Watertank Redwood", reclaimed wood from rooftop water tanks in New York City. Sort of "Sinker Redwood" without actually being sunk! The back and sides are English Walnut from a tree grown in Denver, Pennsylvania, not far from Jon's shop. The binding is curly Maple. The fingerboard and bridge is Casuarina, a tree originally from Australia, but planted in South Florida, and now considered an invasive species. Jon harvested this from a native plant restoration project at the Jupiter, FL lighthouse. The headplate and rosette are his "Picasso Style", made up from shop scraps of different woods. The only "exotic" wood is the neck, made from Honduran Mahogany.
I've only played this for a couple of days but I'm enjoying the rich, mellow tone and excellent intonation. I'm still debating the Ko'olau Aho strings with wound G & C. They sound great except for a lot of string squeak. I may replace them with Thomastic-Infeld smooth wound strings at some point.
Once the holidays are over, I hope to have some time and record a sound sample. Anyhow, I'm happy with my Christmas present to myself!
Jonathan likes to avoid using exotic, tropical hardwoods for his instruments and tries to stick with locally harvested, sustainable woods. I've got no complaints about his choices! The top is "Watertank Redwood", reclaimed wood from rooftop water tanks in New York City. Sort of "Sinker Redwood" without actually being sunk! The back and sides are English Walnut from a tree grown in Denver, Pennsylvania, not far from Jon's shop. The binding is curly Maple. The fingerboard and bridge is Casuarina, a tree originally from Australia, but planted in South Florida, and now considered an invasive species. Jon harvested this from a native plant restoration project at the Jupiter, FL lighthouse. The headplate and rosette are his "Picasso Style", made up from shop scraps of different woods. The only "exotic" wood is the neck, made from Honduran Mahogany.
I've only played this for a couple of days but I'm enjoying the rich, mellow tone and excellent intonation. I'm still debating the Ko'olau Aho strings with wound G & C. They sound great except for a lot of string squeak. I may replace them with Thomastic-Infeld smooth wound strings at some point.
Once the holidays are over, I hope to have some time and record a sound sample. Anyhow, I'm happy with my Christmas present to myself!
