Handmade Stringed Musical Instruments and Repairs

Four ukes, two concerts, two sopranos almost finished

Three new Ukes for the Sunday market stall.

I have been experimenting with different headstock designs - examples shown on these three ukes. These three ukes also have a selection of different sound holes.

Another beautiful Uke from the workshop this week. This Uke has a traditional Uke shape and features a cutout with three sound holes, a cutout headstock with contrasting an abalone and malachite inlay on the top.

A traditional shape Uke with three round sound hole. Special features are a cutout headstock with contrasting timbers and a triangular abalone inlay on the top. The back is made of beautiful raintree wood. This Uke was bought as a present for a friend. Happy strumming!

This beautiful uke features two teardrop sound holes with contrasting wood on the headstock. The new owner is a 19 year old new Zealander girl - mom stopped by the market stall and bought it as a present.

This little butterfly Uke fluttered off to Canberra last weekend. It has It was bought by Dad as a present for his 17 year old daughter. It has a beautiful tone so I am sure she will enjoy playihg her new uke.

Another three ukes from the workshop. I have focused on different styling for the headstocks with these. Have a look.

Imogen from Melbourne visited the market stall this weekend and bought the eight string Lutelele. This was her belated birthday present from her mom and dad.

Her ten year old brother is also an accomplished musician and entertained us on the classical guitar - wow! he has a great musical future ahead of him...

This week's uke creation is still inspired by the Art Deco period. It has mother of pearl inlay (stylised arum liy) and mother pearl flash surrounding the sound hole. The back has a rising sun marquetry with a mother of pearl detail at the base of the neck.

Cara from Port Douglas is the new owner of this neat looking Uke . She was visiting the markets with her younger sister Coco and her mom.

Yet another uke winging its way to NZ with its new owner.

This Uke was a first for me in many ways. Inspired by the Art Deco theme from the previous Uke I made. I decided to follow along a similar theme but add more curves to the body shape and include more abalone inlays.(on the face and bridge). The bridge and sound hole reflect the angles used in the body of the uke and these are further reflected in the shape of the head stock which has a contrasting wood overlay.

This uke took me more time to create because the sound hole was slightly recessed on the lower side and presented design issues. The effort was well worth it and the design worked really well.

This uke was snapped up early at the market by a Uke enthusiast. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I have enjoyed making it.