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Not long after I went into business as a luthier in 1979 I was asked to make a concert ukulele to be presented as a gift to a Fijian woman friend of a neighbour. I think I drew up a new shape based on measurements in books and did my best. She loved it. It was my first commission. Soon after, I started to see some wonderful Hawaiian instruments made by the Kamaka and Kumale companies. In particular, the Kumale soprano ukes sounded the best to me. I modelled my ukes on a Kumale soprano owned by my sister Rose and have been building them whenever I could find time. I recently replaced a side in one of those featherweight, plain little Kumales. It was pretty rough inside, light as a feather and as potent sounding as could be. I love the soprano ukes best, but make concert ukes, tenor ukes and taro patches (double strung tenors) as well. I prefer to use Tasmanian Blackwood, Acacia Melanoxylon, which is very similar to Hawaiian Koa, Acacia Koa. I have made many out of Western Austalian Jarrah as well. It looks fantastic.
I often bind the ukes in the traditional “rope” binding after admiring the look of Bob Brozman’s wonderful Bear Creek Kona model guitar. I figured a way of laminating the binding out of poplar and rosewood and bounced my idea off Bill Hardin of Bear Creek Guitars. He was very helpful and I am most grateful.
I recently made a Jarrah concert uke with rope binding for Del Rey, the Seattle fingerstyle guitarist extraordinaire. She said I do beautiful work!
To see detailed pictures of my ukes, click on the thumbnails
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