Richard Cross Instruments

Madrone tenor ukulele

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:20:01 +0000

O.K. the little Treukes wend down well, I can always make more when required.

Most of my ukes have pick-up systems in them, but occasionally I make one without, just pure sound. The pictures below are of a little beauty made in Madrone. This is a Califorian hardwood which makes good instruments with a somewhat flat and slightly pinkish appearence. Sounds good though. I have put a tasteful 1.8mm rosewood stripe as decoration and the rosette is my “query” type with a selection of shell discs. A lovely handmade tenor ukulele which will sell at £210 plus £10 P&P. A really nice instrument as you can see from the selection of pictures. There is only one!

Treuke – what’s that

admin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:51:31 +0000

Happy New Year everyone.
Here is a nice little bit of fun I have just made, I call it a “Treuke”. The ‘UKE’ bit comes from it being a soprano ukulele scale-length, and the ‘TRE’ bit is Welsh for three; there are three strings. Tune it as a top three uke or an open ‘G’ or ‘D’ chord and you can have a lot of fun with this. I have also built in an Artec A1 pickup to compete with bigger instruments. The jack socket also works as a neck-strap fixing.
Dimensions; 510 x 115 x 45mm, 342g

There is only one of these at the moment. A nice little present and super value at £60, or make me a sensible offer.

Charity auction guitar

admin — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:54:19 +0000

The guitar, a Leisa style, number 4069 is called “Brainwaves” and was made to combine my luthier skills with the inspiring award winning artwork of Edward Hunter. The design on the front panel is a coloured visualisation of a real brainscan. The guitar is being auctioned at the Headway Charity Lunch taking place at the Dorchester Hotel in early December. The well know antiques expert Eric Knowles will be the auctioneer, and if anyone wishes to be involved, telephone or internet bids will be accepted up to 7th December. Further details of this can be had from Rachel Broughton (Headway Fund Raising Manager) on 0115 924 0800 or by email at eventsandconferences@headway.org.uk

“Brainwaves” is based on the Leisa style but with an ‘F-hole’ and Artec lipstick pick-up. The usual FSE-TN provides the superb electrics. The body is a spruce top with striking zebrano back and sides. The neck is maple and the headstock has a zebrano veneer. The machine heads are vintage style. More photos and details of this lovely instrument can be obtained from me on request.

New website

admin — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:19:04 +0000

Welcome to the new Shapelywood.com by Richard Cross.

I am currently in the process of building a new website with new information about my instruments. Over the next few weeks you will begin to see more models appear on the website. Please feel free to use the contact form to request any additional information that you may want.

Watch this space.