Tim Farrell is best known for his fingerstyle acoustic guitar compositions but he was looking to add variety to some of his concerts. So he asked me if I had a sweet sounding ukulele that might fill the bill.

 

Lua Pele has the voice he was looking for. She has ziricote back and sides, a Lutz spruce top, Honduran mahogany neck and an ebony bridge and fingerboard. If you're not familiar with Lutz spruce it is a cross between Sitka and white spruce that naturally hybridizes in British Columbia and southern Alaska. It supports a warm balanced tone.

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The tuners are Gotoh Stealths that I modified to fit this ukulele. At the time slot head Stealths were not available so I drilled out the rollers, shortened the posts and swapped the standard plastic buttons for ebony ones. You can get slot head Stealths now but you couldn't in 2014.

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Here's Tim playing a medley of Winter Wonderland and Jingle Bells on Lua Pele.