NUD: Sonny D Ohta San Longneck Concert

Just picked up my Sonny D. Can't wait to restring it with flourocarbons tonight and play her. I've never had a truly hand built instrument before and consider this one to be quirky and beautiful.

It is a used Demo model which is fine by me. Top is Bethlehem Olivewood. Sides and back are Black Limba.

To be honest I can see how someone who is used to production ukes can not like the build of my new baby. I was thrown off by the seams at the bottom not lining up, and by the plastic nut and saddle and also the way the nut isn't fit as cleanly as I'd like. From 18" away it is a stunner and that's how I see it, but like your car or your house, once you start to clean it you notice little things. To me it adds character to the ukulele which sounds great by the way.

Another interesting thing is the body is smaller than I thought it would be. It is almost soprano sized with a tenor neck. Overall length is barely longer than my Pono Pineapple Concert. Definitely comfortable in my arms though.

The action seems high but I will play it for a bit before perhaps having it changed. Also may or may not add a pickup.

It should be fun and not everyone has one!

My pics:

Nicer photos from seller:

More quirk.

Just one more. I think it's neat how he hand writes the details of the uke on a slip of paper.

Nice Uke. And I haven't heard of the choices of wood before. Very cool.

Congratulations Steel Rider, enjoy!

steel rider said:

Just picked up my Sonny D. Can't wait to restring it with flourocarbons tonight and play her. I've never had a truly hand built instrument before and consider this one to be quirky and beautiful.

It is a used Demo model which is fine by me. Top is Bethlehem Olivewood. Sides and back are Black Limba.

To be honest I can see how someone who is used to production ukes can not like the build of my new baby. I was thrown off by the seams at the bottom not lining up, and by the plastic nut and saddle and also the way the nut isn't fit as cleanly as I'd like. From 18" away it is a stunner and that's how I see it, but like your car or your house, once you start to clean it you notice little things. To me it adds character to the ukulele which sounds great by the way.

Click to expand...

Congratulations on your new uke! To be honest, the reason why Sonny D's aren't a clean build is because he's very old now which means that his hands could be shaky and eye site is not as good. He's been building since 1970. Wow, 45 years! In the future, you may not be able to buy one anymore so congrats!

Interesting piece there. Definitely not your cookie cutter uke.

Why the three kinds of strings?

Yes I agree on all points Uke182.

Jim, I've no idea. I was told Sonny likes to play around with his builds. I replaced the first three strings with Martin flourocarbons since that's all the local shop had. I found some Fremont Blacklines and have Living Waters coming along with the new Steady case from Uke Republic. Never tried Martins but playing first fret is difficult - for Bb and such particularly. I will have to try new strings to see if that is the issue, but I suspect the action at the nut is way too high.

Congratulations on a beautiful one of a kind uke!

Well I'm going to bring her over to DaSilva in Berkeley to have Mike do a complete setup, adjust the action down and install a pickup. Should be just the way I want it after that.

Perhaps someone reading this thread can give me some information that is possibly related.

I have a Ceniza longneck Koa concert. I believe Sonny was involved with Ceniza. Is that true? It's a beautiful sounding ukulele with a very comfortable neck.

Thanks

Very nice!