Welcome to Ukulelear

Back in 2005 I brought a Roy Smeck ukulele to school. Kids were intrigued and wanted to try to play it themselves. The sound was pretty cool with just a few simple chords. Within a few weeks kids had bought their own Mahalo ukes and started to really enjoy playing.

Since that first ukulele group the Cal-Mum Uke club has had about forty students join-up every year. It has been a joy to teach in a school that is filled with the plinkety-plunk of the uke music.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Tenor - Soprano Trade

I worked on restoring my 1920s Supertone soprano during the winter. I rebuilt one of the braces and replaced the bridge back plate and french polished it with a dark shellac. It is really pretty, but I've wanted a tenor uke for a while and asked my sister-in-law Lisa if she would like to trade for her Bushman tenor.
Video of finished Supertone:

 

The Bushman has a couple cracks in the lower bout that need to be repaired, but the sound is still nice. I would have to say that the Bushman does not have a lot of sound projection for the size of the body. It seems rather quiet, and I'm not sure if this is due to the crack or the thick layer of lacquer. The lacquer looks very nice but must have some effect on the natural mahogany tonewood. I'm thinking of removing all that plastic and repairing the cracks. A french polish would really be beautiful...