Several years ago I became interested in pyrography on ukuleles. I had already purchased a couple of ukuleles with burned tops (more on those is separate posts) and thought I would give it a try.
I had no pretense that my woodburning work would meet or exceed the work of professional pyrography artists, but the ukulele is supposed to be fun, so I took that approach when determining how to burn my ukulele.
At the time, I started writing a series of books that included the ukulele as a pivotal plot point, so I decided to burn the first part of introduction to the book on the top of an ukulele. I selected a super cute, yellow Kamoa concert ukulele that I purchased for my birthday in 2018. It was actually an impulse purchase, but that’s how I justified forking out the cash. You know how it goes… #UAS.
Once again, I contacted my ukulele repair man, Daniel Flores to be my partner in Ukulele vandalism. I asked him to strip the top of its finish so that I could burn it without any major combustion.
Here is a before and after comparison.
I purchased a set of woodburning tips and began the laborious process of heating up the wand and pressing letters into wood one by one. This required a bit of testing since I didn’t really know what I was doing. “Winging it” was part of the fun. I knew that perfection was not going to be an option. What do I look like, a printing press?
I don’t remember how long it took but it was over the course of a few weekends since I also had a full-time job and couldn’t work during the week.
I love the way it turned out. It has that hand-made, inconsistent, raggedy, vibe that I was hoping for. I used a thin layer of satin finish and I still play it to this day. It sounds great. A Kamoa with a good set-up is an excellent value.
But I am not selling.
