Ken Middleton visited the workshop today, to collect his new purpleheart tenor uke. The design brief for this instrument was to make an instrument that was both visually striking and sonically loud.
The purpleheart wood of the body is thin and is lightly braced for maximum volume. (That’s the wood’s natural colour by the way – it is not dyed or stained). I also made the body 6mm deeper than standard. Accents in highly-figured sapele and the ebony fretboard & bridge complete the look. The end result is a spectacular ukulele with the extra volume Ken was looking for, with a strong bias towards the mid-range which works really well for solo playing.
