44

shop news

Shop photos coming soon. Meanwhile, our process in a nutshell: We source instrument-grade logs and lumber from sustainable or salvage sources and then air dry the milled lumber a minimum of three years, often much longer. Dry boards are accurately resawn into thin plates, matched into sets, graded, and stored in our wood room which is kept at 45% - 50% relative humidity.

TRIPLETS!

While I am not a luthier, I make an occasional instrument. Here's a slideshow of three baritone 'ukulele I made. Mahalo to Jake Shimabukuro for his Blue Roses Falling playing in the background. Slideshow: three little ukulele

WAIPUNALEI

Here are slides from our trip to a sawmill up at 5,500' elevation on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea. This is cattle pasture land, with stands of senescent, healthy koa trees throughout. The only koa harvested by this mill owner is from dead/dying trees. The log being milled was 42" in diameter, and had rotted at its core and fallen over. Even so, plenty of good instrument-grade koa was salvaged. Slideshow: Waipunalei

KHAYA

July 2022. Five years ago a friend of ours sold us some African mahogany (khaya ivorensis) boards from a tree planted in Kea'au Hawaii many years ago by Herbert Shipman. The tree yielded beautiful straight-grain boards with ribbon striping throughout. After proper seasoning we just milled the first board and are pleased with the quality and figure. As a domestic, USA-grown tonewood this is free of any Lacey Act requirements. See our Gallery for a sampling of sets available. Photo shows some of the boards with reddish hues  just off of the sawmill. Now dry, the boards are light brown: