Baritone ukulele

[Tom Snape]

This baritone is based on the Favilla shape. The body and neck are made from poplar boards from Lowes.

[Barry Daniels]

How does the poplar sound?

[Tom Snape]

I'm very pleased with the way this uke plays and sounds. The baritones ukes that I have to compare against are some Favillas, a Vega, and an englemann topped Bushman. This poplar uke is more in the sound category of the mahogany baritones. The Bushman (with D'Addario "titanium" strings and slightly longer scale) is louder and has more punch.

I hesitate to attribute the sound to just the species of wood, as we all know that how the instrument is built is the dominant factor. I still tend to overbuild my instruments a bit, always worried about top deflection. The vintage mahogany ukes I have all have just two ladder braces (either side of the sound hole) and large bridge patches. The Favilla bridge patches are thin; I estimate ~1/16" x ~3/4" , but extend fully side to side. In the poplar uke, I used a thin maple patch, but added three light fan braces, similar to what the Bushman has. I would like to try another poplar uke like this with out the fan braces. The Wood Database shows poplar to have stiffness nearly the same as true mahogany, but less weight.

I tried the poplar out of curiosity. Also I found some nearly quartersawn poplar boards with interesting color streaks and thought, why not?

[Tom Snape]

Other details:
The fingerboard and bridge are pau ferro.
The neck center laminations, and the rosette, are cherry and maple.
I used spanish heel construction.
The head plate is walnut.
Binding is plastic tortoise shell.

[Bob Gleason]

Very nice , clean looking bari.--Bob

[Jo Dusepo]

Looks good!

[Doug Sawyer]

That is a great looking bari Tom.

[Samantha Larson]

That's one fine piece of craftsmanship!

[Bryan Bear]

Nice! I think the poplar looks good. The color looks great! Poplar can be really nice looking after it has been exposed to the light for a while and the greenish tinge turns brown.

[Frank Dryer III]

I don't understand what is the reason to by baritone ukulele? Isn't it better to buy simple acoustic guitar?