Saturday, May 9, 2009

Completed TKL003 Tenor Kasha Ukulele

MAKAIO Ukulele TKL003 is a fingerstyle tenor ukulele that was completed in 2009. This ukulele has a 17" scale, with the fretboard joining the body at the 14th fret, allowing access to slightly higher notes. The Engelmann Spruce soundboard has been braced using a modified Kasha/Schneider technique, which provides increased sustain and clarity in tone. To further increase the voice of the ukulele, a sideport has been used in combination with a series of upper bout treble decorative soundboard holes. This provides a greater soundboard area available to vibrate freely when compared to a traditional fan braced ukulele with centre soundhole.

The back and sides of this ukulele are Tasmanian Myrtle, an Australian native tonewood. While Tasmanian Myrtle is reasonably common, the timber that shows "tiger" patterns is somewhat rare. The neck is made from Honduras Mahogany with a medium fiddleback feature, and has been reinforced with a graphite stiffening rod. Solid "Tiger" Myrtle bindings have been used, in combination with back and top black/white/black purflings.

The Tru-Oil varnish provides a thin flexible finish that has less impact on the tone of the instrument than many other finish types. High quality geared Gotoh mini tuners were selected to allow accurate tuning with no string slipage.




















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