This aarived completely unexpected by courier today.
During his research into old instruments, my brother found out that Ukelele's have been made with all sorts of echo chambers including gourds.. With this in mind he made me this tenor Ukelele from recycled materials
1. Two calabashes glued together and epoxy coated on the inside to improve the resonance, one bought in Namibia at a pawn shop and the other grown by his late Portuguese father in law in La Rochelle in JHB and dried for many many years. Seems fitting as the Uke was invented by the Portuguese and brought to Hawaii in the 1880's.
2. Neck out of old Maranti door frame. The neck extends all the way through to the Tailpiece at the back for strength
3. Peghead face and soundboard - Oregan Pine flooring
4. Fretboard, tailpiece, bridge and friction pegs, old Rhodesian Teak parquet floor tiles
5. Frets, metal from old windscreen wiper blades.
It is strung with Nylon string guitar D and G strings and Ukelele top two, tuned to G3 C4, E4, A4, this time lower G as opposed to the Soprano Ukelele he made for me which is G4 C4 E4 A4. Here are some of pics inlduingone next to his little brother.
]https://www.dropbox.com/s/0olv27gm7kbi3h2/IMG_20150916_111842.jpg?dl=0[url]
https://www.dropbox.com/s/des1d8lxvei6w1a/IMG_20150916_111852.jpg?dl=0[/url]
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8polk4hpf8hypw8/IMG_20150916_111921.jpg?dl=0