This tenor ukulele has flamedl Hawaiian Koa wood body--top, back, and sides.

The neck is mahogany. The headstock overlay, and the inlay at the guitar’s bottom are bloodwood. The bridge and fretboard are Indian rosewood. The saddle is bone. The nut is black buffalo horn. Binding is tortoise patterned celluloid. The sound hole rosette and the perfling trim around the ukulele’s top and beside the bloodwood insert at the base are Paua Abalone shell. Tuners are Gotoh geared tuning machines with a 16:1 turning ratio.

The swimming sea turtle inlay is a mosaic of green abalone and yellow mother of pearl.

The finish is water-based lacquer. The lacquer finish is brushed on in about 18 or 20 thin layers. Layers are brushed on in sets of two or three layers no more than two hours apart and then allowed to set overnight before the next application. Before starting the next application I lightly sand to level the surface and remove any brush strokes or irregularities. A few days after the final application, I wet-sand the entire instrument with 800 grit sandpaper and then polish it with successively finer grades of polishing compound.

These days I prefer French polishing, which requires a similar or greater amount of work, but which yields a higher shine and a thin, flexible finish that easily moves with the wood’s vibration. Also, because French polishing is a traditional technique dating from the 18th century, I feel it is better suited to a hand-built instrument. French polishing was largely abandoned in the 20th century by commercial manufacturers in favor of less labor-intensive sprayed on lacquers.