This instrument was intended as a tribute to local materials. It started last summer when a friend of a friend took down a run of Willows by the creek. They were giving it all away as firewood, so Henry and I grabbed a truckload. Most of it went into the firewood shed, but I did make a few boards for projects. It seems to work like a soft maple, so I thought I would try it as a stock uke. I used it as the back and sides with a little amber stain to pop the grain. The top is Western Red Cedar salvaged from some old siding. It has a really nice texture and sounds great, as always. The neck is Alder, a very common tree around here, but not one I don’t see milled for lumber very often. I think this piece was a scrap from the Carpenter Ant stash in Portland. The fretboard/headplate/bridge is some local Walnut that I milled a few years ago. To tie it all together, I used curly maple binding and bird’s foot purfling around the top. This uke is coming to music camps with me this spring, if it is available after that we will announce it.
