Marlena – terz cinquelele in all sapele

This is the matching cinquelele for the Marley.  The form is a wide Jenny, like an XL tenor ukulele. The body is made of solid sapele, including the top, back, sides, neck and tail blocks. Bracing is European spruce. Rosette is a simple group of wenge, maple and sapele rings.

The design and build match the Marley very closely, with just a few minor deviations. So, for example, we used X-bracing on both and I was planning to use silk+steel strings on the Marlena, but when I got them on I wasn’t at all happy with the bass response, so I switched to fluorocarbon strings and… wow, what a voice. The steel strings did provide very pronounced trebles which