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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
I’m so excited! My website is re-written and seems to be working smoothly and this is the first post on the new site. Life just doesn’t get much better. Today, I am showing a Silky, Curly Maple and Curly Koa Concert Ukulele. Ninety percent of the instruments I make are Tenor, but recently there […]
Ok kids, git yer dancin’ shews on! It’s almost time for the 8th annual OluKai Ho’olaule’a on the beautiful island of Maui. This years event will be held on the last weekend of April at Kanaha County Park. Food and fun events are planned for all ages with the highlight events being world class, open water, downwind stand […]
Here’s a new Curly, Quilty Koa Tenor Ukulele. The body is old growth, salvage Koa from the Big Island and the accent Koa is from Kauai. I think this is proof that you don’t need the perfect, high curl Koa to make a distinctive looking instrument. This set is not perfectly quarter sawn and the […]
Here’s a new tenor ukulele I just delivered to Hale Ukulele in San Diego. This is some of my new stash of reclaimed Koa from the Big Island. I’m partial to all the looks that Koa provides but I think I like Blond Curly Koa the best. I’ve accented this build with a new Plumeria Flower […]
This Pineapple Concert Ukulele is a classic re-design of the standard shape. Mike has his tenor and he has his Koa but really wanted something different. Sooooo, after some deliberation he decided on this set of Oregon Tiger Stripe Myrtle Wood for his pineapple concert ukulele build–he really fell for the black flames on the […]
I’ve had this stripey, spalted Zebra Wood Tenor Ukulele set sitting in the wood stacks for a long time. I was re-organizing my wood stocks and decided that it was time to put it to good use. I also am a sucker for spalted wood of any kind and the pattern of the spalt in this […]
Here’s a new custom tenor ukulele made of salvage Koa from the Big Island. The Paua Abalone purfling combined with the darker Koa wood really pops. I think that these two components: Koa and Paua Abalone, especially dark Koa, are very complimentary. This Koa wood exhibits figure typically called “compression curl” and might be found in part of a tree where the […]
