Local luthier Keith von Schriltz of Little City Ukes teamed up with teacher Kenny George’s IB Design class at Meridian High School to create a one of a kind ukulele.
Using a cut down walnut tree from Lisa and Mark Lacroix's yard, Mr. von Schriltz waxed the ends of 5 dried boards to discourage cracking and stored the wood on a rack in his basement for nearly a year. In January of 2024 the wood was ready to go and Mr. von Schriltz commenced building the ukulele. The building and finishing process took about 50 hours all told and resulted in a soprano ukulele with back, sides and headstock overlay in beautiful Falls Church walnut. The top is an old piece of Sitka spruce and the neck is made of mahogany.
Mr. George tasked his Meridian Design II class with creating the inlay. Mr. von Schriltz’s son Max, a sophomore at Meridian, helped create a digital file rendering of the church. Claire Weatherly, also a Meridian sophomore, cut out the inlay using a gyroscopic router coincidentally purchased with grant money from the FCEF.
The end result was a stunning rendering of the church in curly maple that was inlayed into the walnut headplate.
Using a cut down walnut tree from Lisa and Mark Lacroix's yard, Mr. von Schriltz waxed the ends of 5 dried boards to discourage cracking and stored the wood on a rack in his basement for nearly a year. In January of 2024 the wood was ready to go and Mr. von Schriltz commenced building the ukulele. The building and finishing process took about 50 hours all told and resulted in a soprano ukulele with back, sides and headstock overlay in beautiful Falls Church walnut. The top is an old piece of Sitka spruce and the neck is made of mahogany.
Mr. George tasked his Meridian Design II class with creating the inlay. Mr. von Schriltz’s son Max, a sophomore at Meridian, helped create a digital file rendering of the church. Claire Weatherly, also a Meridian sophomore, cut out the inlay using a gyroscopic router coincidentally purchased with grant money from the FCEF.
The end result was a stunning rendering of the church in curly maple that was inlayed into the walnut headplate.