Farallon launched: first Ekoa linen fiber tenor uke

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 19, 2016 -- Blackbird Guitars today announced its newest instrument Farallon, a tenor ukulele with a traditionally inspired design, crafted from Ekoa®. Ekoa is a high-performance, natural tone material made of linen fiber and bio-resin. The ecological composite is structurally superior to vintage, old-growth wood, and is temperature and humidity stable.

Unlike wood, Farallon’s ‘double top’ soundboard is lighter than conventional spruce and is tuned for a powerful vintage tone. The natural sound draws from the Ekoa renewable linen fiber. The rugged hollow neck unibody composite structure also enhances sustain, creating a worry-free, travel-ready ukulele. Handcrafted in San Francisco, every detail has been optimized to provide unmatched projection and dynamics.

Building on the success of the Clara concert ukulele, Farallon is Blackbird’s third Ekoa-crafted instrument, complementing Blackbird’s assortment of carbon fiber guitars and ukuleles. Blackbird builds guitars and ukuleles in their San Francisco facility using advanced composites and machining processes blended with traditional instrument craft. All instruments have patented hollow neck unibody construction for world-class resonance and superb durability. Blackbird’s instruments are unaffected by temperature and humidity changes, staying in tune and remaining easy to play for a lifetime. In contrast, wood warps and cracks with changes in temperature and humidity; it is also extremely fragile and susceptible to damage.

For the last decade, Blackbird founder Joe Luttwak has focused on building non­-wood acoustics suited to take on the road. That effort culminated in the development of Ekoa, the first material better for instrument craft than wood. “With Ekoa we wanted to create a naturally derived material that offers more dynamic range than rainforest wood as well as a better player’s experience with significantly stronger and more stable construction,” says Luttwak.

Farallon will be available through dealers and in the build­-to-­order Blackbird custom shop in late spring. Street pricing for the Farallon starts at $1,492 with a soft case. Ekoa materials are produced by San Francisco-­based sister company Lingrove (www.lingrove.com) and offer a superior alternative for many applications.

Farallon, as well as the full line of Blackbird’s instruments, will be available to demo at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in Anaheim, CA, Jan 21-24, 2016, in booth #1716.

ABOUT BLACKBIRD

Founded in 2005, Blackbird has built a loyal global following crafting uncommonly resonant and resilient Ekoa and carbon fiber composite acoustic guitars and ukuleles. Designed for the most demanding musicians, these performance-­grade, travel­-ready instruments have weathered everything from packed concert halls to life in Antarctica. All Blackbird instruments are crafted in their San Francisco workshop.

ABOUT EKOA

Ekoa is natural composite produced by Lingrove, LLC. The linen and bio-resin composite has a beautiful designer quality with vibration damping and very high strength. Ekoa is suitable for wherever composites or wood is used.

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