Milo Tenor Ukulele -Sold
Milo Wood from the Big Island is one of my favorite woods to work with. It is very difficult to get good quality pieces because this ocean side tree does not grow straight and most of the larger pieces are hollow. Most Milo instruments are made from very poor quality wood. I cut this wood about 20 years ago in Puako, here on the Big Island, from an unusually solid piece of tree trunk. Milo makes a great instrument with a warm full tone.
I have several tenor ukulele shapes and this instrument is built in my Classic shape. It has radial bracing on the top and X-bracing on the back. Top, back, and sides are Milo wood. The neck is Spanish cedar with an ebony reinforcement strip. The fretboard and bridge are Pheasant wood, another island wood that is difficult to find. Pheasant wood comes from large trees, but often the wood is badly stained from minerals in the soil and is unusable. It is a beautiful wood, with interesting figure in the grain.
The inlay on this instrument is inspired by the petroglyph fields found in the Puako area of the island. Petroglyphs are ancient rock carvings. In some areas thousands of carvings are found and they are spread out in the fashion that I did the headstock inlay. They are often close together, unrelated to each other, and face in all different directions. The fret marker positions at the 3, 5, 7, 10, and 12th fret are also petroglyphs. There are no duplications. All petroglyphs are hand cut from solid mother-of-pearl shell. I use no lasers in my one-of-a-kind inlay work. The petroglyph inlays are cut to resemble the irregular shaping found in rock carvings. The bridge and neck heel have Paua abalone adornments.
The neck on this ukulele, like all my instruments, is attached with a hand cut dovetail joint. Many modern makers have turned to simple easily made joints using screws, bolts, epoxy, or other methods to secure their necks to the bodies. I prefer traditional methods.
The soundhole rosette is a double ring of solid Paua abalone shell with a curly koa middle ring. The top has solid Paua abalone shell border, bound with curly koa. The back, neck, and head are also bound with curly koa
Tuners are gold plated Grovers with ebony buttons. Bone nut and saddle. The finish is nitrocellulose lacquer.
The woods and inlay on this ukulele are a special combination that make it a unique one-of-a kind instrument.
