Clara- The 1st Plant Fiber based Composite Concert Ukulele
Blackbird is a small group of luthiers in San Francisco doing some really cool things with alternative resources. For a few years now we have carried the carbon fiber tenors when available. They are different from traditional ukes because they are not made of wood but of carbon fiber. This makes them impervious to the environmental dangers wood instruments face and the geniuses over at Blackbird managed to design comfort and tone to satisfy a musician’s need. So we were excited to recently get another tenor along with a new carbon fiber tenor we will show you soon. However, what really knocked our socks off was this new concert they call “Clara”. Joe from Blackbird claimed that this new concert would be “a game changing instrument that delivers previously unobtainable vintage tone with exceptionable durability”. Sound like a lot of marketing fluff? Well, we give it to you straight here at the review. This is one of the finest sounding concerts to come to The Ukulele Site.
I was on the the Big Island when it came in and Corey texted me a picture and his opinion,
this uke is badass
When I got back I pulled it out and played it for at least an hour. Considered keeping it. Texted Corey back,
concert blackbird is mind blowing
Corey responds
dude, I can’t get over the tone of it…it’s so warm
So there’s some personal dialog. I’ll go over some more details and Corey will share a sound sample. Dry, unaltered audio from this light weight tone monster.
EKoa?
Looks like coconut husk and sounds like vintage mahogany. Here’s what Blackbird says about it,
Ekoa is made up of fiber reinforcement fabric in resin matrix, but one that is worker and planet-friendly. The plant-based fabrics and biobased resins have a beautiful designer material quality, which does not always require finishing along with distinct performance advantages over other composites. The Clara ukulele, is the debut application of Ekoa which is suitable for numerous other applications from sports equipment to furniture.
All I can say is congratulations to Joe and the team at Blackbird. I think this is a special instrument and am sure it will be a huge success.
Comments 13
Hey Andrew…I was lucky to be at the store when this uke came in….Wow,it is special!!
and Corey doing his fine sound samples as usual….
Sounds so warm. Looking forward to other models.
This concert handles the low-g in such a beautiful manner. I was impressed when I heard it with a high-g, but this is just unreal. Extremely nice job, Cory!
i have one ordered and I should have it in a few weeks. The thing driving me nuts is I have heard this song and I can’t remember what its name is. HELP. I want to work this one out on my high g clara
Will the Clara come in a baritone ?
Author
I don’t know. They made the Ekoa tenor, the Farallon. Maybe next year.
Such a beautiful tone! How would you describe the neck? I tend to prefer necks that are on the thinner side.
Is the Ekoa available in a Tenor?
Author
It will be shown in January at NAMM. Probably a little while before we have for sale though.
I’m having the toughest time deciding between one of their three offerings and you just sold the Clara I was eyeing. Aye-yi-yi. I would love to hear sound samples of the three Blackbirds – Carbon Fiber BTU, Clara Concert and Farralon Tenor with the same song played for all three demos if possible. I think I’m leaning toward the ekoa and the Clara, even though I usually play a tenor (proudly purchased at your store!) and I truly can’t tell if it is just because I like the sound of the Clara better or if the songs from the samples are just different enough that it’s biasing me somehow.
Anyway, I love your samples – they are always so clean and seem to ring true and I love your set up so keep it up!
Author
Thanks Alyna, we will do that soon when all are in stock. Mahalo!
What is the song that Corey is playing? It’s so beautiful!
Author
Can’t say goodby by Chet Atkins. We have the sheet music here under that section of the lessons.