Mahogany Taropatch!

All Mahogany Taropatch! Rosewood fingerboard and bridge, florocarbon strings, koa headplate and end graft, friction tuners. The uke is tuned with two of each note: gg cc ee aa.

Redwood, Brazilian Rosewood and Walnut!

Here is a soprano ukulele in the martin shape made by Aaron Keim of Beansprout Banjo Ukes. All the wood on this ukulele has been recycled or salvaged from Colorado sources.
Top: redwood from a train trestle
Back, sides, bridge, fingerboard and headplate: Brazilian rosewood found in a barn in Colorado. It is very old and looks great!
Neck: Walnut from a local cabinet maker's shop

It has a rosewood nut and saddle, florocarbon strings and high quality friction tuners. 15 frets with brass dots for fret markers.

This ukulele is mellow with strong mid range yet very loud. The sustain is better than most sopranos and the intonation is spot on.

Its on ebay, of course.

Building a uke with Gordon and Char! (Myamoe)

Hey Friends- I just got back from a tour to the northwest. During the off days we stayed with Gordon and Char from Myamoe ukuleles. As a threesome we built a uke in their shop and it turned out great! Here are some specs:
-Myrtle top, back and sides
-Walnut binding
-Mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard, rosewood bridge
-Soprano body with 14 fret 15inch scale
-Peghed tuners, florocarbon strings and K+K pickup

Here are some pics of the process!

The top and back thickness sanded and braced:



Bending the sides!


The ebony endgraft and the sides with blocks and linings:





Gluing the top and back on:

The fretboard, notice the side dots but no front dots:



Gluing it on:


Here is the body and neck waiting for assembly:


And clamped together!


Here it is after the 2nd coat of tru-oil finish. Check out that crazy myrtle!



Peghed tuners:


Gluing the Bridge:


Char Strumming!


You can see some final well lit pics here.

How does it sound? Well, like a soprano with a tenor hiding inside of it! More videos later, but for now, check this out!



Thanks to Gordo and Cha-re-re for their incredible generosity. I had fun and learned a ton!

Northwest Tour!

Hey everybody- Boulder Acoustic Society is coming to the northwest this month. Our current lineup is a cool mix of old time, blues and gospel with an indie rock edge. Banjo, bass, drums, accordion, uke, guitar, etc...Peep this recent video of Rueben's Train:

We also will be back for the Northwest Music tour in October also!

Aug 4
Nicolaysen Museum
Casper, WY

Aug 6
3 Pints Productions/Festival of Nations
Red Lodge, MT
7:00pm

Aug 7
The Knotty Pine
Victor, ID
10:00pm

Aug 8
Bear Trap Festival
Casper, WY

Aug 10
Salmon River Brewery
McCall, ID
6:30pm

Aug 12
Families In the Park Concert
Hood River, OR
6:00pm

Aug 13
Upstage Restaurant
Port Townsend, WA
8:00pm

Aug 14
Axe and Fiddle
Cottage Grove, OR
8:00pm

Aug 15
Alberta Rose Theater
Portland, OR
8:00pm

Aug 18
Alive After Five- The Grove Plaza
Boise, ID
6:00pm

Steuben's

Sorry I haven't been posting, we have been on the road and super busy. Last night we went out to eat for my birthday. We went to Steuben's in Denver, which is an awesome mix of soul food, home cooking, comfort food and crazy vintage cocktail recipes. We had a flaming rum punch instead of a birthday cake, check it out!

I also had a sazerac, which is a great rye whiskey cocktail as well as deviled eggs, hush puppies, biscuits, mashed potatoes and gravy and fried chicken!