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I’m in the middle of an “Americana” tenor ukulele build for my son-in law. Using only woods from North America. The ukulele has a walnut body and neck and maple binding, bridge and fretboard.
I need some help with the headplate wood. Do any of you have any ideas/suggestions for a darker wood (not walnut) that is preferably burl that I could use for the headplate? I am really running into a brick wall here. It doesn’t have to be as dark as the walnut, but it needs to be dark enough that the gold mother-of-pearl inlay doesn’t look sloppy (It is a thin script). I’m definitely not trying it with maple.
Anyway, any ideas sure would be appreciated.
Thanks

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

One North American wood I can think of that can be quite dark is myrtle. Most myrtle is on the light side, but some pieces can be very dark. If you contact sources that emphasize myrtle they might be able to help you find a head plate piece that's dark.

Oregon Wild Wood: https://tonewood.com/guitar-tonewood.html
Pacific Coast Woods: http://www.pacificcoastwoods.net/

Is it practical to stain a lighter wood dark and then inlay? Or maybe inlay the wood first and then stain it dark?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Texas Ebony is pretty dark. Its tough to find large pieces but maybe you could do a multi piece headplate.

Another wood that's darkish is Persimmon. However it is very hard and is alot like African ebony

If you want a practical route. Holly wood stains amazingly well and can take a perfectly black stain with great results.

Desert ironwood, quite dark, but miserable to work.

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

If you want burl, redwood burl can always be located. I do not know if "Russian Olive" is native, but when a neighbor cut one down, it was dark inside. If you can find an old, sick Red bud (so you can cut it down), it is dark inside.

Black locust can be oxidized to look black. The sample on top is black locust. The sample below is Gaboon ebony.

"I’m definitely not trying it with maple."

Maple heartwood is fairly dark.

Gold MOP would look good against redwood burl. Sinker redwood is even darker.

Persimmon is mostly light colored, but it can grow fully black wood. Usually pretty gnarly and thin, but you may be able to find a big enough piece for an ukulele headplate, or at least enough to provide a black background for the logo and have lighter wood elsewhere.

Curious as to why you don't want walnut if you are using it elsewhere. Mesquite?

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Well I tried to post this before, but I do not see it on my screen, so here goes again.

If your definition of North America includes all the way to Panama, then there are lots of "rosewoods" that are dark,e.g. cocobolo, ziricote. If you want any of those, post your dimensions and I may have some scraps--NC.

You can ebonize white oak and it will be black.

You can do the same with walnut too. The iron acetate treatment does not penetrate very far so you will have to do it after sanding everything flush. Test on scrap so you can match the color of whatever filler you’ll be hiding the gaps with.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Persimmon black an white streaks, ziricote ??

You could so the steel wool and vinegar thing on oak


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Fuming it with ammonia is less messy.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

cherry turns dark red over time. Wipe with lye or set out in sun to speed the process up. Even works through oil finish.

I was thinking mesquite too. It grows in Texas, AZ, NM, Nevada and C. It can get pretty dark.

Gibson used holly died black on their headstocks. I assume because it takes die well.


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Thanks everyone. All great ideas! Now I've got plenty to think about.
This forum is great.

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

For those who have combined a staining/fuming/dying/lying/vinegaring wood treatment with inlay, does the darkening method used introduce any issues with doing an inlay? For example, does the darkening effect go deep enough into the wood that you can darken the wood, do the inlay, and then level sand the inlay without worrying about sanding through the dark color into the lighter wood?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Holly dyed black often looks like the best ebony.

Fuming with ammonia works differently with different woods. With porous woods, such as oak, black locust, and osage, the color tends to go all the way through, but it may not with something that's tighter grained. This is one of those places where the old finishers rule of 'try it on scrap first' is essential.

A former student sent me some 'soft shell almond' wood that he got in a fire wood pile in California. It's very hard and tight grained, with a grain that looks lot like cherry, but it's darker and not as red. 'Mountain mahogany' would be another good one, if you can find some. I've got some wood from a plum tree that's also tight grained and quite dark.

You can darken cherry with UV or a solution of potassium dichromate. That can be done after the inlay. There is cherry burl, though it may be hard to find. Hampton Brothers Guitars recently acquired some, but I don't know about the size or quality.
You should be able to find Texas ebony that is large enough. I have cut many guitar bridge blanks from it.

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John

Generally speaking, ebonizing treatments (i.e. using a chemical to make a wood that is not ebony look as black as ebony) have a very superficial effect. The depth depends on the hardness and porosity of the wood but it is usually less that 1mm. Therefore, it is very easy to sand through the black layer. In a large piece (I recently ebonized an entire neck) you can just retreat the sanded area and it will darken again. But if it was an inlay you would risk darkening the surrounding timber, which would make a mess