Ukuleles


Uke Gallery

= Ukulele Serial #1 ===

I built this soprano ukulele as a present for my wife. Shortly after receiving it, she restrung it to be tuned like a fiddle. She’s a fiddler, and was following a recommendation to use a uke tuned like a fiddle to help learn to think chordally. A mandolin would do too, but a uke is more friendly, portable, and easier on the fingers.

 

Features include:

  • Four strings with standard soprano scale
  • Koa back and sides
  • Cedar top
  • Mahogany neck
  • Ebony fingerboard
  • Koa headstock veneer
  • Mother of pearl fingerboard inlays
  • Hand etched and cut mother of pearl hummingbird inlays on bridge
  • Shellac/wax finish

 

Front view of ukulele serial number 1Right side of Ukulele serival number 1Back of ukulele serial 1

close up of the hummingbird inlay on the bridgeSide view of the neck of uke number 1

= Ukulele Serial #2 ===

This instrument was inspired by a Manuel Nunez soprano uke from my childhood, but is not a copy. Although I built it for my own satisfaction, I played it only a few days before someone fell in love with it and I accepted their purchase offer.

 

Features include:

  • Four strings with standard soprano scale
  • Koa back and sides
  • Spruce top
  • Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and bridge
  • Mahogany neck
  • Koa headstock veneer
  • Rosewood binding
  • Mother of pearl fingerboard inlays
  • Gloss finish

 

Front view of Ukulele serial number 2 Side view of body and neck of Uke number 2
Back of Uke number 2

= Ukulele Serial #3 & #4 ===

These two soprano ukes have quite a story. My friend Scot's dad was a high-school shop instructor. Scot's a woodworker too, and one of his earliest memories is of making birdhouses with his dad. His dad's wishes were to have his ashes buried at sea, so Scot made a lovely box from walnut, padauk, and birdseye maple scraps to contain the ashes til the sea burial could be done.

 

Afterwards, Scot asked me to use the wood to make a ukulele. By adding some mahogany I'd inherited from my dad's stock (who was also a woodworker) I had enough wood to make two ukes. But since the walnut salvaged from the box was too short for a standard soprano ukulele body, I designed a shorter, squatter body shape. Also, in tribute to Scot's dad, I inlaid hummingbirds on the headstocks.

 

I am honored and delighted to have been asked to make these ukuleles, and I had a lot of fun making them.

 

Features include:

  • Four strings with standard soprano scale
  • Walnut back, top, and sides
  • Mahogany neck
  • Padauk fingerboard
  • Walnut headstock veneer
  • Mother of pearl headstock, rosette, and fingerboard inlays
  • Rosewood binding
  • Glossy lacquer finish by Addam Stark of Santa Cruz

 

Photo of the front of ukulele 3Photo of the back of ukulele 3Photo of the headstock of uke 3 with hummingbird inlay
Photo of the front of ukulele 4Photo of the back of uke 4Photo of the headstock of uke 4 with hummingbird inlay