The Blackbird's Clara ukulele's body uses a flax linen composite material with bio-resin called Ekoa flax—a unique, plant-based 'tone' material. Sustainable, renewable and lighter than carbon fiber, Ekoa flax fabric has high strength, stiffness and vibration dampening properties. So it combines the tone of vintage wood with superior responsiveness, stability and strength. This combo makes for a unique sonic presence with good travel durability with none of the humidity and temperature issues that normally wreck havoc on wood instruments.
Building on the success of carbon-fiber acoustic guitars and ukuleles developed over the past decade, Blackbird dedicated several years of research and development to incorporating these low-density eco-materials into their proprietary hollow-neck uni-body acoustic construction. Clara is the loudest concert ukulele with the widest frequency range available yet compact enough to fit in a backpack.
Blackbird Clara starts at $1,150 with optional battery-free electronics.
Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs, and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. http://barryrudolph.com
