Tenor ukulele from reclaimed lumber

[Adam Gardner]

It's been a long time since I've posted anything here, but I'd like to share this ukulele I just finished for my good friends' daughter. It's a 17 inch scale Tenor ukulele with an old growth redwood top, poplar sides, back, and neck, and a bubinga fingerboard. The redwood was from an old I found buried in my backyard. The poplar was from a shelf I built. The rest was left over from other projects.

[Adam Gardner]

Here are some pictures of the construction

[Adam Gardner]

This is a construction method I was curious about trying, and the ukulele was kind of a proof of concept for an acoustic/electric baritone guitar I'm working on.

[Barry Daniels]

Why did you not build it with thin bent sides?

[Adam Gardner]

Why did you not build it with thin bent sides?

Mostly just curiosity. That's about it. I have a bunch of short lengths of nice lumber that I want to find a use for. I wanted to know what an instrument built this way would sound like, and how heavy it would make it. I was kind of inspired by some old Renaissance guitars built in a similar fashion.

[Karl Wicklund]

Curiosity is as good a reason as any and a better reason than many. How did it turn out, as far as sound and playability ?

[Adam Gardner]

Curiosity is as good a reason as any and a better reason than many. How did it turn out, as far as sound and playability ?

It sounds great acoustically, and amplified, and it's a joy to play! I couldn't be happier with it. I need to the new owner if she can upload a video of it being played.

[Peter Wilcox]

Nice looking instrument, Adam. I guess great minds think alike - I just started building an acoustic/electric round neck resophonic a couple of days ago using a similar construction method. However, instead of gluing up the side pieces I'm using a hunk of 8X8 doug fir that's been sitting outside for 10 or 15 years. Lots of checks and cracks to fill. It will be instructive even if a failure.

[Clay Schaeffer]

The nyckelharpa uses a similar construction technique (sawn sides). On some of the older ones I believe they would hollow out a baulk of timber for the back and sides as was done for the early Irish harps.
With the sawn sides and the onboard electronics that uke is quite the mix of old and new.

[Bob Gleason]

Here is another example of a uke from reclaimed wood. Redwood top, back, and sides from a redwood deck on an oceanside house that was overrun with lava last year. Most of the the rest of the deck I made into a new front door for my house and garden bed planter boxes