Ukulele Guild of Hawaii Exhibition (November 17-19) - Which UU'ers Going?

Thanks so much for the video and the pictures, GT. Great stuff, and next best thing to being there. Please keep the pics and reviews coming, guys!

Anyone tried Pepe Romero's Baritone Guitalele?
 
Thanks geetee. I have been very curious about the LFAC ukes, it was great to see them displayed all together.

BTW, say heello to Stan for me!
 
Finally the unveiling of the LFAC ukes, so exciting!
Norway is a bit far from Hawaii unfortunately, but I can't wait to hear them played.

By the way Eddie, last time I checked it was impossible to order from Dartermall for non-US residents. Is there another way to order t-shirts and polos?
 
Finally the unveiling of the LFAC ukes, so exciting!
Norway is a bit far from Hawaii unfortunately, but I can't wait to hear them played.

By the way Eddie, last time I checked it was impossible to order from Dartermall for non-US residents. Is there another way to order t-shirts and polos?

PM me or email me at eddie@luthiersforacause.org to work out details. I’ll ship to our international friends personally. Tell me what you want to order (be specific) and ship-to address. We’ll figure it out.

We so appreciate the support!
 
Awesome. Thanks for the video! I'm wondering what that thin carbon fiber ukulele at around the 2:30 mark in the video is?
 
Thanks so much for the video and photos, Eddie and GeeTee. Very much appreciated. Ono's ukuleles are stunning, as always.

Bill
 
Eddie, you are the best, thanks for doing this again as you did last year. It really is fun to look at all the pictures, congratulations on Luthier for a Cause, the exposure is awesome.
 
Thanks so much for the video and the pictures, GT. Great stuff, and next best thing to being there. Please keep the pics and reviews coming, guys!

Anyone tried Pepe Romero's Baritone Guitalele?


the Pepe Baritone was very nice...the other builders all liked it..super light for a Baritone
Pepe built 2 of them the other one went to Jack Johnson
 
That is correct. Local musicians Henry Kapono, Brother Noland, and John Cruz have carbon fiber guitars made by Steve. He also had two very thin body wooden ukes on display.

Here are some more pictures from Sunday, except for one from Friday afternoon when Eddie and Patchen did the Luthiers For A Cause presentation.

https://imgur.com/a/UIHo0

And the final song from the three day long kanikapila.

 
A few comments based on my perspective of those ukes I was able to check out. Please note, I did not see -- let alone carefully exam/play -- everything there. I also didn't take notes. In other words, there are a lot of fine ukes I may have seen or maybe didn't see and aren't noted below.

-- The Luthiers for a Cause ukes naturally got a lot of attention and it was really cool to unveil them where the whole idea originated last year. Kinnard, Beau Hannam, Jay Lichty and Steve Grimes also displayed other ukes beyond their project ukes, which were of course wonderful. I'll mention them first

-- Two of the Grimes ukes will be on the Ukulele Site soon; an all maple and a redwood/ziricote. I really liked the redwood/ziricote and took an opportunity to play it in a quiet area. Steve uses nylon strings which I generally don't like, but even with these it had a nice voice in the upper registers. He also had a German spruce/Brazilian rosewood tenor that had the most beautiful straight grain BRW I've seen. It was from the personal stash of famous guitar builder Michael Gorian. Loved its voice. And Steve let me know it sold on Sunday evening, so now I can try to stop obsessing about it. Maybe I should be thankful henhas no more of that wood left in uke size. For you guitar players, I belive he may. It’s like a $10K upcharge for a guitar set.

-- Jay Lichty had a Ziggy model (19" scale) with torrefied spruce top / myrtle body which sold at the show. It was super nice and a Ziggy is now on my must-have list. He also displayed his personal arch top 23" scale baritone, which was gorgeous.

-- Kevin Beddoe showed three lovely Kinnards, including Luthier's Reserve #3 (cedar/Padauk), a redwood/maple (sold) and a Series 3 cutaway with redwood top and cocobolo body that I particularly liked. Also, we visited Shawn Yacavone/Ukulele Friend while on Oahu. He has an as-new lovely spruce (nice sinking in the top)/East Indian rosewood Series 2 with upgrades for $1,800.

-- Beau displayed my 19" Selmer body shape tenor which got a lot of accolades. There's another thread on that so I'll save my gloating for that thread. ;-)

-- I also ask luthiers whose other ukes particularly impressed them. Beyond the Luthiers for a Cause ukes, the two most common answers I received were on an Ono Uke and a Duane Noble, so I'l comment on them next:

-- David Ingalls/Ono Ukes showed a new Wahoo Series torrefied spruce top / sapele body that a lot of luthiers commented on as one of their favorites. It's already sold. I loved this uke's look and tone. David also showed a 20" 6-string spruce/Makore baritone and a 16" redwood/myrtle concert that I believe are both going to The Ukulele Site.

-- Duane Noble had a WRC/Brazilian rosewood Harp uke that garnered a lot of attention. It was extremely well done and is also going to The Ukulele Site. He also displayed a WRC/Madagascar rosewood tenor that was one of my personal favorites at the show. I had not seen his ukes before and he is definitely somebody I will watch as I was really quite impressed.

-- Les Stansell had an all myrtle tenor that I liked a lot. It will be on The Ukulele Site soon.

-- Oceana had a Port Oxford cedar / quilted maple body with some of the nicest maple I've seen and a scalloped fretboard. I wished I had taken this uke to a quiet area to spend some quality time with it.

-- Eric DeVine showed a redwood / Brazilian rosewood tenor and an all The Tree with 24K gold inlay that is quite the stunner. Both were commissioned and will be tremendous additions to any collection.

-- Crist Punk/Kula had several ukes with pretty wild inlays. I had also played one of his ukes, without inlay, at Ukulele Friend that was quite nice in tone.

-- Keith Mason had two 19.5 baritone's on display. Both featured tasteful, small inlays. In particular, I liked the tone of the redwood/walnut one. I was really impressed with his execution, especially for the price point (about $2,150).

-- The Ukulele Site had a few ukes on display, too. They had a gorgeous Dave Sigman/Little River all koa tenor with a holekua etched inlay on the "string-thru" headstock. I am not often a fan of all koa ukes, but I've played 5 all koa ukes from Dave and REALLY liked each one. The Pepe Romero guitelele was also popular with folks. And the cedar/ebony Hoffman concert was really nice as well.

-- We also had time to visit Shawn Yacavone (Ukulele Friend) in his new, by-appointment showroom (see pics in Flikr link). If you go to Oahu, don't miss it. It is really nice done. In addition to an amazing selection of vintage ukes and guitars, he has a nice selection of fine, used custom ukes (a few new ones, too). Notable standouts for me were a really nice Hive Hornet spruce/Wenge, a Tommy Rodriguez WRC/EIR concert that is super special, a neat Oulcraft long-neck soprano that is feather light with nice playability and tone and a John Kinnard (mentioned above) Series 2 with upgrades, spruce top and EIR body. There was also a spruce/maple I'iwi that I liked quite a bit.
 
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That’s a nice recap, Eddie. On the Ukulele Guild of Hawaii’s Facebook page, I browsed pics and watched many of the videos they posted. That, along with this thread and what you’ve posted here, made me feel like I was in attendance. Looks like everyone had a fun time!
 
Thanks so much for letting us take part vicariously.
Some really beautiful ukuleles, and I bet there is going to be a lot of UAS going around. :)
My wish list keeps growing all the time.
 
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