Preowned. Beautiful Custom Ono Longscale Tenor Ukulele handcrafted by David Ingalls of Ashland, Oregon.
Luthier Bio
In 2011, David visited a ukulele luthier with the intention of ordering a custom instrument. He was irresistibly drawn to the building process and set out to build one on his own and the rest is now history. Prior to ukuleles, David had built sailboats and had also enjoyed the precise demands of machine work so the transition into ukuleles was not a foreign one. His background in woodworking, along with the specific demands in sailboat construction required to make a vessel seaworthy, made for a seamless transition into the world of precision craftsmanship in handcrafted instruments.
“The greatest joy that I find in building ukuleles is when people love playing their Onos as much as they enjoy looking at them. Of course, playability and the quality of the music that they make are primary, but also central to the craft is that an instrument should inspire its owner to take it out of the case every so often just to admire its beauty.” -David Ingalls
The back and sides are crafted of a master grade set of figured bubinga wood that shows both curl and quilting. Both are laminated with a combination of bubinga, cherry, maple and Adirondack spruce. The top is ancient spruce that took on its unusual color as a result being sequestered underground by a landslide that took place about 2800 years ago. Its appearance aside, the tone is what we expect from good Sitka spruce. The top bracing is Carpathian spruce in the conventional three fan pattern with a carbon fiber bridge plate. The bindings and neck are maple, the former curly and the latter quilted. The body is finished with glossy lacquer and the neck with satin epoxy for durability and easy, smooth playability.
This beautiful custom Ono longscale tenor ukulele has an 18 inch scale and can be played in standard low g tuning (gCEA) or in Bb tuning (F,Bb,D,G) – one full step below the low g tuning, which gives it a pleasing resonance that is a bit deeper in sound than the standard 17″ scale. Lamination of the back and sides forces the vibrations primarily into the soundboard of the instrument. Due to the stiff nature of the back and sides, no back braces have been used on the instrument. This philosophy of instrument lutherie encompasses using a laminated back versus a braced single layer back but neither is a tonal requirement. The back could be built either way but Dave’s approach to instrument building with the use of lamination of true woods accounts for variation in structural integrity in woods and allows him to use a variety of woods of varying integrity with limited concern of warping or movement since the true-wood lamination is extremely strong, highly resistant to deformation and cracking due to changes in humidity mechanical damage; and, since he has the equipment for vacuum bagging, it’s also efficient in the build process for him. Adirondack spruce was used as the middle layer of the laminate since it’s a light spacer in a three layer panel that depends upon the stiffness of the outer skins. In this design concept, the back isn’t intended to be active. There’s a never-to-be-resolved controversy in the acoustic instrument world between active and reflective backs. Suffice it to say that both work when integrated into an appropriate system. In brief, a laminated back and sides creates a little more mass in the sides and back, which allows the energy that is imparted to the top by the strings to be retained more fully as vibration of the top rather than bleeding off to the back and sides. There is certainly a valid design/construction regime in guitars and ukes that values lightness as well. Both approaches can yield a wonderful, full, and vibrant sound.
Specs:
18” scale, 15 frets to body, 19 frets total
Quilted bubinga back and sides
Ancient Sitka spruce top braced with Carpathian spruce
Laminated bubinga wood back with Adirondack spruce core and cherry inner
Laminated bubinga wood sides with black dyed maple core and cherry inner
Gloss lacquer body
Hand rubbed satin epoxy finish on neck
Curly maple bindings
Mango rosette
Quilted maple neck with carbon fiber reinforcement (cantilevered neck)
Cantilevered, bound fretboard with carbon fiber reinforcement for stiffness and mass
16” fretboard radius
Ebony fretboard and bridge
Pocketed saddle
Carbon fiber bridge plate
Bone nut and saddle
Gotoh UPT tuners
This beautiful Custom Ono Longscale Tenor Ukulele is characterized with a big, bold sound with an oomph behind it. It has a wonderful and balanced sound that would be an attractive addition to any ukulele collection. Nice projection and clarity up and down the neck with some wonderful sustain as well. A wonderful playing instrument at a very reasonable price point for a full custom ukulele. #230006
