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.

Hangin' with Danielle ate the Sandwhich

Come to the Denver Ukulele Festival!

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!

xmas presents for nicole and aaron

Nicole and I both got some great presents for xmas. Nicole got a new tattoo on her foot from Dawn Grace at the Tattoo Factory in Chicago. http://www.dawngrace.com/

I got a new myrtle reso uke from Myamoe ukuleles. www.myamoe.com/ Wot wot!!!

The old home place

My father and grandfather took me today to see the barn that was built by my great great grandfather Samuel Keim. He built it in 1899 after the big tornado destroyed his property in Carol County, IL. It hasn't been used in at least 20 years but they wanted to take me up in the hay loft to see the old construction. The original beams and framing are reused from the barn that blew down in in 1898. Wood pegs and square nails are the norm. Many of the beams are 8 inches by 8 inches and many of the wall boards and floor boards are solid pine as wide as 18-20 inches. My father told me that you could have played basketball or roller skated up there back in the day and I believe it. It seems to be all pine or larch construction and the pins are 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick driven through the beams. We took a couple of souveniers: a hay bale hook that was likely used by many men in my family and a pine board 16 inches wide, three feet long and one inch thick. I imagine I will run it through the thickness sander and see if its useful for anything!

Check out the posts where they wrapped extra pieces of bailing wire over the years. It is likey 70 years of bailing wire saved "just in case."

Black Jack Daisy

Kids Concert!

My wife Nicole had a concert with her elementary school kids tonight. Her drumming ensemble played 3 songs and then her choir sang 7 songs. I ran the sound which I always do for her concerts when I am not on the road. The big hit was "The Reindeer Prom," which included a dancing cameo by the other teachers! My favorite part is that 5 girls wore the same dress and 3 other girls wore another!

Here is a picture!