Entries by Kimo Ukulele

Custom Koa Concert Ukulele

Here’s another Custom Koa Concert Ukulele.  I just delivered this cutie to Hale Ukulele earlier this week and it is already gone. I know that’s the point but I need about half a dozen more of these Koa Concert Ukulele.   This wood is another example of reclaimed salvage Koa from the Big Island of […]

Koa Concert Ukulele

If you have followed my posts for some time you might wonder why I only show tenor ukulele.  Well, the tenor is the most popular model that I make and sell.  But, recently, there have been increasing requests for Koa Concert Ukulele and now I am keeping this instrument a regular in my build schedule.  I think […]

Curly Koa, Curly Koa, Curly Koa

Richard just picked up this beautiful Curly Koa tenor ukulele yesterday.  I love the look of this set of curly koa wood because it has just about everything I like–wavy curls throughout, good color, wavy grain, sap-wood and spalt.  Since the set is slightly rift sawn you don’t see that straight, stacked curly but this, in my […]

Blond Curly Koa Custom Tenor Ukulele

Personally, I think Blonds can have more fun.  Here’s a Blond Curly Koa custom tenor ukulele just delivered to Hale Ukulele in San Diego.I love the look of blond curly koa.  Yeah, there’s some dark roots showing but hey, I’m not that picky.  I’ve added my Plumeria Flower Inlay for accent and combined that with Blue Paua Abalone […]

Tenor Concert Ukulele

Jack has his Black Koa Tenor Ukulele, but wanted a Concert Ukulele with a wide neck. I was not comfortable with his desire for a concert scale though, so I nudged him in the direction of a concert ukulele but with a tenor scale–a Tenor Concert Ukulele.  I also did not think that making  a longish body to accommodate […]

Shark Inlay Custom Tenor Ukulele

The shark is back!  My somewhat whimsical Shark Inlay has been revitalized on this new Tenor Ukulele.  I wanted to try something different and felt it might go well  with this chocolate heart myrtle wood from Oregon.  The Shark Inlay is made from Black Mother-of-pearl Shell and as the light hits it from different angles it changes […]

Black Koa Tenor Ukulele

I’ll call this one Jack’s Black.  This Black Koa Tenor Ukulele with with dramatic sap wood highlights also sports a wide neck per Jack’s request. The Koa is more from my stash of reclaimed salvage from the Big Island of Hawaii.  I’m a sucker for woods having a live edge of sap wood and for alternative appearances including spalt and […]

Dark Curly Koa

Fae picked out this beautiful set of Dark Curly Koa for her new custom ukulele.  Her request was for a darker voiced tenor, smooth and silky–maybe “nahenahe” in Hawaiian.   So here it is:  dark, chocolate, compression curl Koa.  All the pieces of this set came from the same billet of wood so the match was really […]

Dark Koa with Plumeria Flower Inlay

Here’s a new tenor ukulele made from salvaged Dark Koa with Plumeria Flower Inlay. With this salvaged wood source I sometimes don’t get the absolute best quality Koa Wood and this is a perfect example:  the curl is not consistent across the entire face of the instrument and there are a few blemishes.  Really!  I just thought you […]

Alternative Luthier Tonewoods, Just Because I can

I just put strings on this custom tenor ukulele last week.  This build was a bit of a materials experiment using a variety of Alternative Luthier Tonewoods.  This was not a custom order but I build these as shop instruments occasionally, just because I can.  I was looking for something a little different and I kinda wanted it […]