The 1905 World's Fair was in Portland, Oregon. The Chilean government was handing out seedlings of their national tree, often nicknamed the Monkey Tail tree. One of these is planted across the street from me.
My neighbor, Darren Kammerer, had cut up a fallen branch and left them on his porch for years. One day he tossed me one of the logs and asked if I could make a Ukulele out of it.... this is that story.
I had not made a Uke, but I do have one and had previously made a little "novelty" guitar out of scraps using the Uke as a template. So I took this novelty, removed two of the tuners, and built a new top. This prototype worked well, so I started work on one based on the Monkey Tail log.
The wood is not very stable, so I sliced it up and laminated a couple pieces together for the sites + a portion of the neck. The core of the neck + fingerboard + bridge is walnut. Top and bracing is spruce.
For the back, I made a thick veneer and glued it on spruce for stability.
The Monkey Tail Uke went to Dad, the prototype went to the kids, Cash and Ray
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