Baritone Banjo Uke for Neil and Leightonhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

My friends Neil and Leighton have a folk music/performance art band called Safe Boating Is No Accident. I just finished a new neck for this old supertone pot for them. It has the scale of a baritone ukulele and is strung dgbe re-entrant tuning. The Supertone pot was made for Sears in the 1920s and is 10 inches across and built for a banjo mandolin. Check out the cool little Grover guitar tuners.

Supertone!

Hey banjo friends- Just finished a restoration on this mid grade supertone, it turned out pretty good. It is for singer songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov, who also plays a banjo I built for him. The three piece neck with dyed hardwood fingerboard is pretty warped, so the action can't be as low as I want, but it is right where Gregory wants it.

I put on some new Gotoh tuners, skin head, bridge, nut, pip and strings. And don't forget the K+K pickup.

Banjo for Gregory Alan Isakov

I actually built this banjo about a year ago but Gregory just brought it back in for a checkup and to adjust some things. It is all walnut with 12 inch block rim and ebony fingerboard. Aquila minstrel strings and a high bridge for that old timey sound.

Gregory was one of the first people I met when I came to Colorado and he is a great musician and singer/songwriter. Check out his stuff.

I am also restoring an old banjo for him, which you will see soon.





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Re-built Soprano Uke- Chicago made?

Here is a soprano ukulele most likely made in Chicago in the 1920's. It is made of a beautiful flamed mahogany with a new walnut bridge and fingerboard. It has checkered rope binding and a mahogany neck with new tuners and aquila strings.


Here is the deal: I bought this uke in pieces and it needed major work. I essentially re-built it from the inside out. It has a great sparkly vintage sound but with modern playability and nice sustain and volume for such a small body. When you look close you will see the evidence of all the small repairs needed to get this uke solid again. Despite these small aesthetic issues, the uke is rock solid and a dependable player.


Here is what I did:
-repaired and patched back and front cracks
-re-braced the entire instrument with cedar bracing and added a cedar bridge patch
-added new kerfed linings
-patched small holes and gaps with mahogany and did my best to keep as much old binding as possible
-pulled the old frets and added a mahogany veneer to the neck to make it straight
-added new walnut fingerboard, bridge, saddle and nut
-new tuners and strings
-re-finished with a light oil finish


It's on ebay

Two Banjo Uke Restorations

Here are two banjo ukes I am restoring for customers. The first is labeled "wizard" and is made of good quality maple and rosewood. It has a seven inch head, soprano scale and all the original hardware! There is a nice maple cap on the pot and a nice rosewood fingerboard. All I had to do was change the head and strings and dress the frets. The inside is signed by the original and only owner: Louise Ward Gaylord.



The other one is one of the all aluminum dixie banjo uke.
I love the engineering on these, too bad they don't sound like much! The neck and fingerboard are all one piece cast aluminum. The tuners are integrated and so is the nut. All I had to do is change the head.

Some Ukes For The Denver Uke Fest

Black Concert Banjo Uke
Amber Concert Banjo Uke
Amber Tenor Banjo Uke

Mahogany Hawaiian Style Soprano
Spruce and Mahogany (red stain) Hawaiian Style Concert
Tiple (Mine!)
Cigar Box Uke
Koa Tenor (For Yannick)

Cigar Box Ukulele

I got a cigar box from my Grandfather that came out of his attic.



It is a "Havana Seconds" cigar box made of solid cedar. It is sometime before WWII, I imagine. I thinned the original top, braced it, inlayed a simple walnut rosette and built a maple/walnut neck, bridge and fingerboard.




It took me four tries to glue the neck on! It turns it the cedar panel I was gluing it to was too soft and flexible to take the butt joint. Instead I replaced the pannel with a piece of cherry with a nice big mahogany heel block. I then sunk two bolts through it into the neck and its solid as a rock!


I put a fret wire saddle, bone nut, gotoh friction tuners and aquila strings. I tuned it up to D tuning and it sounds great. Decent tone and volume for a small box.


Also, I built it with a scale that is one fret short of normal soprano scale and 13 frets. It will be for sale at the Denver Uke Fest and then on Ebay if needed.

Fingerstyle Ukulele Instructional Vid

I made a clawhammer ukulele instructional video a few years ago and the success of it has been a shock to me. I finally got around to doing a fingerstyle instructional video. Enjoy!