The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #103616   Message #2116474
Posted By: Cap't Bob
01-Aug-07 - 10:23 AM
Thread Name: A waste of good mahogany
Subject: RE: A waste of good mahogany
The last concert ukulele I made was constructed from salvaged wood. I build the body and neck (with the exception of the sound board) using mahogany form a 24ft sailboat that was made back in the 1940's and had seen better days. The boat had quite a history and was at one time grounded in high winds near Put in Bay on Lake Erie. The mahogany seems to be different from that found on most instruments in that the color changes depending upon direction of light.

The sound board came from the siding taken from a Lavette Kit House. These houses were sold as kits during the 40's - 60's. The siding was all quarter sawn western red cedar. The uke has a great sound and mighty good looking as well. I gave it as a gift to the friend that gave me a whole bunch of the red cedar siding. The only problem dealing with the cedar siding was removing the paint which was the old lead base type. I cut the paint off using a band saw rather than trying to remove it by sanding.

Cap't Bob