Posts

Who are you calling a Heal?

I've been adding  lower bout "heal grafts" to my instruments since I first started building.  Now I know that this has nothing to do with sound or construction quality, but it is one of the things that you would expect to see on a custom acoustic…

Limba Love

Karen fell in love with the Limba.  She requested that the instrument not have too many frills, but concentrate on the beauty of the wood--beetle holes included.  So here we go:  African Black Limba body and neck,  Ebony binding,  radiused…

California Curl

No I'm not talking surf dude!  I got my hands on some killer Redwood top sets and there are no two alike; and, each one really  is killer!  I didn't know what to pair this wood with so my first endeavor was to go with the tried and true…

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…

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…

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"…

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…

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.…

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…

Kimo Uke on Tour with Beck

Here's a note and a link that I received last year--just didn't get around to posting .  The uke being played is an all African Imbuia hula hips tenor ukulele.  I think I made it about 7 years ago.  The wood has a huge tonal range as well…