Pink ivory wood or pomelle sepele?

[Michelle_K]

Hi all
I saw a guy make a ukulele and also a guitar out of pink ivory wood and one out of pomelle sepele. They looked stunning and I'd really like to give it a go. Had a bit of a hunt around but cannot find either wood anywhere. Just wondered if anybody had any uk sources.

Thank you.

 

[bugbear]

Hi all
I saw a guy make a ukulele and also a guitar out of pink ivory wood and one out of pomelle sepele. They looked stunning and I'd really like to give it a go. Had a bit of a hunt around but cannot find either wood anywhere. Just wondered if anybody had any uk sources.

Thank you.

Put bluntly, I don't think your skills are up to pink ivory. It's not just expensive (which it is, very) or that it's hard to get hold of (which it is, very), but it's nasty to work.

If I've misjudged your skills from the questions you post, I apologise in advance.

HIS ukulele looked marvellous, not because of pink ivory, but because of HIM.

BugBear

 

[YoungSalt]

I would be interested in finding a supplier for pomelle sapele in larger sizes than just a guitar neck for my work restoring classic wooden boats if anyone can help? Thanks Ed

 

[profchris]

Michelle, I'm going to echo what Bugbear says. Looking back on my first attempts at ukulele making, I realise that I made my life difficult through my choice of woods. Anything with figure or reversing grain is difficult to work, and it really helps if you've polished your skills on several plainer instruments first.

South American mahogany of some kind, if you can find it, is near perfect. Easy to work into plates, fairly easy for neck carving, not too hard to bend (generally).

Sapele is harder for neck carving, and it planes ok but the ribbon grain tends to tear out, so i tend to do the final thicknessing with a card scraper.

You might want to consider vertical grain oak, which should be comparatively easy to find. I made a pretty little camp uke for Phil Doleman, a player whose name you might recognise, and he tells me it sounds very good. Vertical grain oak planes beautifully into plates, bends like a dream, and although carving is work because it's a very hard wood, it carved very cleanly.

Walnut is easy to work too, and can make a good uke.

Good luck!

 

[profchris]

As an alternative thought, you can have fun with pink on the cheap!

This is 1.5 mm birch ply, stained with red ink and finished in Tru Oil. Pinker and less blue than the photos show.

The neck is mahogany and hardwood ply, salvaged from a wardrobe.

Dressed up with celluloid from China it looks rather spiffy and sounds really good, if i say so myself.

Materials cost was around £10, excluding tuners.