This is a tenor ukulele in cedar/koa with a really lovely, clear, strong voice. In addition to the wood combination, I believe certain aspects of the construction, for example the fact that I left out the bridge plate, may be contributing to Mele Lani’s voice. Her name, by the way, means “song from heaven” or “heavenly music”.

I used rosewood as the “accent wood” for the fretboard and headstock, the rosette, the tail graft and bindings, the bridge, and the heel. There isn’t all that much contrast between the koa and the rosewood bindings, so you have to look carefully to see them. All in all, the visual impression is quite tone-in-tone, like 22 shades of gold.

Here are the details:

• Top: western red cedar
• Back and sides: koa
• Neck: alder with rosewood heel
• Head plate: rosewood and ovangkol
• Fretboard and bridge: rosewood (IRW), 16″ radius
• Rosette: rosewood with ovangkol rings
• Binding: rosewood