Koa and blackwood tenor uke

[David Aumann]

Here's a tenor uke I was asked to build. I suppose you could call it a commemorative uke. Apart from the slotted headstock, its special feature is the rosette, bearing the owner's son's date of birth. This uke has a koa top with Victorian blackwood back and sides. Internally, I use five small fan braces and no bridge plate. The neck is a five piece laminate, mainly because the fiddleback blackwood I had wasn't big enough for a one piece neck, so I put a couple of blond (maple) pinstripes and an extra bit of blackwood in the middle. The pinstripes match the binding, which is figured English ash.

[P Bill]

Nice work David, lovely uke.

[Allen]

Nice set of wood put to great use Dave.

How was the rosette made? Laser engraved perhaps?

[David Aumann]

Thanks Bill and Allen. That rosette ... well, I THOUGHT about having someone laser engrave it for me, but in the end I cheated instead. Using WordArt, I designed the name/date to fit around a circle and found a font that would print it in letters only 1/8" high. Then I made a 1/4" rosette out of abalam pearl, printed the rosette design on waterslide decal paper, used scissors to trim the decal very close to the lettering and applied it to the pearl. When dry I sealed it in with lacquer whie the uke got its final once over. Since then its had three sealer coats and three top coats and I'm happy the design is well and truly protected. The decal is pretty floppy and fiddly when wet, and I wrecked my first attempt but my second attempt came out fairly well. Cheers, David.