Entries by Kimo Ukulele

and, Koa to you!

Here’s another custom ukulele with Koa from the island of Maui.  You don’t get Koa from Maui  often, and I consider myself lucky to have found this. I have used a Koa and curly Maple laminate neck.  Since it is so difficult to find solid woods of the proper dimensions for one piece necks, I […]

She’s a real cutie, a Mexican beauty. . . . .

I need to write Jimmy Buffett and give him these words–could be the making of a great song. Here is a new instrument made from Mexican Palo Escrito (a genuine rosewood).  This is one of those “off the grid”  woods that hasn’t been over harvested and provides great potential in this industry.   I topped the […]

More Black

I haven’t been able to keep one of these instruments for too long.  After the last sold, I started a new one and decided to keep it a little more conservative–meaning, no beetle holes.  Here is that effort.  Of course the body is solid Black Limba, but the neck is also Limba.  Accents are Vanuatu […]

New Koa Tenor

Missed my weekly update so here is a midweek showing of a new Koa Tenor.  I’m using a new urethane finish and it has a little tint like lacquer.  The instrument is all Koa.  I have used curly maple binding to accent and have a koa/curly maple/koa neck to match.  Accents are curly maple as […]

Not Another Maple Ukulele!

I don’t know, I just can’t resist.  I’ve had the opportunity to build some “shop” instruments and decided to do another maple/sitka combination.  ALSO, the latest run of instruments have all been strung up with Jason Arimoto’s PHD, low “G” flourocarbon strings.  I wanted to accurately gauge the difference in sound that each wood and […]

Double Puka Koa Tenor

I have built a number of double puka ukes in the past but for some reason they are not high on the list of requests.  I was totally re- motivated after seeing HAPA this year though and thought it was high time to make another.  Here are a couple of pictures from the “shop”.  I […]

More Myrtle, and….

Here’s a new tenor with a combination of figured, “crotch” Oregon Myrtle for sound board and beeswing African Imbuia (huh!).  I accented the instrument with Oregon curly Maple binding and  black/white herringbone purfling and matching backstrip.  Neck is Oregon Bastogne walnut with an Oregon  curly maple lamination.  Accents are Maidou burl from Vanuatu ( you […]

Takayama Surf

This custom tenor ukulele was co-designed by pro surfer Guy Takayama (www.takayamasurf.com).  The ukulele is a modified hula hips but with a slightly wider waist and a rounded lower bout.  Instead of the usual center sound hole, Guy opted for the asymmetric design this year. Construction is of curly Claro Walnut with curly Oregon Maple […]

New Black Walnut Concert

This concert ukulele is made from the following woods: back and sides–figured Claro Walnut; sound board–Canadian Red Cedar; neck–Oregon black walnut;  accents–Maidou burl.  The binding is East India Rosewood.  I also used an extended scale of 15 3/4″ for a little more string tension.  The instrument was just strung up today, the strings not set […]

Villaverde

Carl is one of the best ukulele players in town.  Check out some of his videos on YouTube (Carl Villaverde).  Carl teaches music and ukulele at Santa Barbara City College.  He is also a regular performer in the Los Angeles area.   Here are a couple of clips from a recent promotional video for the […]