Rachel's Ukulele

Spalted black limba tenor ukulele with ziricote binding

Back of spalted black limba tenor ukulele

Tenor ukulele with Hawaiian Islands inlaid in fretboard

Tonewoods

This is one of three custom ukulele’s built for my grown children. Rachel selected the materials and headshape for her personal uke. It was a fun project to build a custom instrument for someone special.

This ukulele body is spalted black limba for back, sides, and top. Rachel selected ziracote binding, the abalone rosette, an ebony fretboard with an abalone inlay representing the Hawaiian Islands, and an ebony headplate and ebony bridge with bone inlay. The finish is Royal-Lac shellac based finish.

Gluing a carbon fiber bridge plate in a tenor ukulele

Tenor ukulele Chladni pattern, monopole at 320 Hz

Frequency spectrum of a spalted black limba tenor ukulele

Voicing and Construction

Bracing pattern is the traditional three fan braces. Bridge plate is 0.8mm carbon fiber. Top thickness 1.6 mm. Back thickness 2.0 mm.

Resonances:

Top 320 Hz

Back 430 Hz

Air 197 Hz