Entries by Kimo Ukulele

Heals, Just Heals

Just some pics of heal features that I have made in the past.  It’s all evolving.

I’m a Sap for Sapwood!

Here’s a new tenor with a wood that I have built with before.  My client just loved the look and I do too.  Personally, I love variation in the wood such as this sap wood center (click on the pictures for a closer look).  I’m not as fortunate as some of the builders on the […]

Viva Villaverde!

Pro musician and ukulele phenom Carl Ray Villaverde just picked up his new ukulele this weekend  (youtube:  carl ray villaverde).  This tenor cut-a-way was co-designed by Carl and I.    Besides the request for particular woods, Carl was most adamant on a “C” shaped neck.  I’ll have to admit that after shaping this neck to […]

OMG Suzie!

Suzie ordered a baritone koa ukulele.  Nothing fancy she said, no pick-up, no glitz.  OK, I put strings on  this instrument this weekend and, although I have not finished final adjustment, I have totally fallen in love with this instrument.  Here I have used a 4A curly koa with East India Rosewood binding.  The neck […]

Black is Beautiful Baby!

I just  finished this Black Limba ukulele.  It’s a tenor, by the way.   Haven’t made one from this wood in awhile since I have not had a reliable source for wood.  This wood has a  really pleasant tap tone and I especially like the varied appearances–absolutely no two instruments look the same.  Most of […]

New Black Walnut

Got this Claro Black Walnut from my good friends at Gilmer Woods in Oregon.  I’ve topped this uke with a 60+ year old Sitka Spruce that was rescued from the Gibson factory.  I left the age stain down the middle just to give it some credibility.  The binding is Hawaiian Koa, the neck is Oregon […]

Carbon Tone Bar/Neck Reinforcement

If you have been to the website, you might be asking yourself what is a carbon fiber tone bar.  In short it is a piece of pultruded carbon fiber bar that I have inlayed into the neck.  Honestly, this stuff is freaking stiff.  There  really isn’t that much tension on an ukulele neck, so I […]

My Favorite Wood II

I just purchased some Black Limba lumber and here are a few pictures of book matches from that piece.   Shhhhh! It’s a secret so don’t tell anyone– this wood duplicates Koa and Black walnut in density and tonal quality.  The pattern of the wood varies substantially as you can see.  All of these pieces […]

Hold that Tiger!

Being a sucker for any new and different wood, I couldn’t resist this recent offering from Luthier’s Mercantile. It is called Tigrillo.  I don’t know a whole lot more about the wood other than  LMI reports that it is from Peru and is responsibly harvested and maintained.  The wood has a vertical tiger-like stripe  and […]

My Favorite Time of the Build

I’m sure every luthier has a certain time in the build process that he enjoys the most.  For me, this would be after the instrument body comes out of the mold and at the first application of sealer.  If  I could just quit at this moment it would be perfect.   It is at this […]