Monday, November 30, 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

The Koa Tenor


The tenor for my friend in Belgium is a little farther along. It has a smaller body shape than most tenors, but it is deeper than normal. I have a 17inch scaled neck that will join at the 14th fret. It is loud, deep and thumpy when you tap the top. I can't wait to get it strung up and see how it sounds. I plan on making a tiple in December from the same size and shape!

Fruit Turkey


This is a turkey made of fruit. It was created by my wife Nicole. It was festive.

Paid to Busk


Scott Aller (from BAS) runs an entertainment consulting firm called 5280 Live. He got some old pianos painted by local artists and placed them all around downtown Denver for anyone to play. Tonight he paid local musicians to play them during the tree lighting ceremony. Here is me, Scott McCormick and Chris McGarry playing some tunes. Our piano was painted by our friend Laurie Maves.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Tenor Beansprout On the Bench


Here is a tenor Beansprout after its third coat of finish. I used to use an oil finish, but I switched this summer to a wipe on poly. Its really easy to use and looks less handmade then then the oil. It builds up pretty well and dries fast in our low humidity Colorado air. It also is cheap, easy and less toxic than spraying. It isn't as glossy and plastic as a factory finish, but I love it.

Some Koa in the Shop!




Here are two pics of some Koa ukes I am working on. One is a Kumalae shaped concert uke with walnut fingerboard and mahogany neck. It is for a gentleman from Carbondale, CO. The second is a tenor uke with mahogany neck and ebony board for Jaynickel from Belgium. He won the Bosco and Honey Safari contest, I hope he takes this uke with him!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

BAS with Victoria Vox!

Last month we did a week on the road with Victoria Vox. We love her and she loves us. We love each other, really. She is coming to Denver next month so we can play on her new cd! Here we are playing together in LA:

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Hawaiian Style Soprano On Its Way To Germany!





I just sold a Kumalae shaped soprano to a fellow in Germany. It is made of all mahogany with rosewood fingerboard and old style rosewood pegs. It is the lightest uke I have ever made and sounds great! Check it out:

Two Chord Songbook

Scott and I put together a book of our favorite three chord songs. It is made by hand on recycled paper and has the chords and words to a bunch songs that only use two chords. Check out this video about it:

You can paypal $7 to aaronckeim@gmail.com to get one.

Starting up the Blog!



Hey everyone- My name is Aaron Keim and I pretty much do 3 things: tour and play guitar/banjo/lap steel/ukulele with Boulder Acoustic Society,


Build musical instruments under the name Beansprout
and hang out with my wife Nicole.

I also play the upright bass, teach music lessons, love vintage cocktails and collect old western wear! This blog will mostly be about the instruments I build and the places I go. Enjoy!