custom CIGAR box UKULELE in the WORKS

dominicfoundthemooon

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hey all.. i just wanted to post up some photos and info on my "future" cigar box ukulele that is being crafted by Russ of Sonny Daze he does all his work by hand... and makes these ukes one at a time. i found him via ebay... and after watching his sound sample and talking with him i decided to pitch an idea.

my father passed away 9 years ago. he was a bombader on a B-29 in WWII and as a small child i can remember him showing me his WWII wings.. while he was young in WWII and never went on a actual bombing mission... he did tell me stories of his training. i always had a set of these wings around growing up. another thing about my father was that he loved to sing songs from the 30's and 40's and i can recall hearing him sing "it's not the pale moon that excites me.. that thrills and delights me... it's the nearness of you" and we often would look at the starts together... he would often pint out orions belt.

with these ideas in my mind... i made a sketch a few months after his death of a tatoo that i was going to get on my back.. i gave the sketch to a good friend and he did a computer graphic on his version of the wings, the moon, and the stars of orion. a few years later i took this artwork to a tatoo artiest and he came up with another working of this art sketch. see photo..

tatoo-1.jpg


i never did get the tatoo but kept the artwork around... i had plans for making a sticker.. maybe a pickguard...until i found russ! wen i sent him the photos and asked if he could make a cigar box uke with this as the sound hole he sent me back this... which was a YES!

uke4.jpg


and thus we were off... i gave him the okay to start production... and for the past 3 weeks he has been working... this is not his main job, and he does this more for the love... and works at an artist pace..

this is the uke in stage 1...

uke5.jpg


uke6.jpg


more to come...
 
Anyone can buy a uke. Some folks can make one for themselves. But to have an interesting instrument with a real story is something special. You will have something special. Nice collaboration with the builder.
 
really cool man! can wait to c more! i like the shape of the headstock!
 
The ukulele on his video sounds pretty decent, can't wait to hear what your's sound like. I like your sound hole shape, very cool. ;)
 
Nice hole !

even my tribute to my dead father is not safe from "deach-a-facation" and that is why deach is a GREAT MAN! he can find humor in a dead baby in a trash can.. you just got to love it!! deach on deacher man.. deach on...

and no.. you can not put anything in my ukulele.. besides.. that hole is way to big.. you would just get lost..
 
even my tribute to my dead father is not safe from "deach-a-facation" and that is why deach is a GREAT MAN! he can find humor in a dead baby in a trash can.. you just got to love it!! deach on deacher man.. deach on...

and no.. you can not put anything in my ukulele.. besides.. that hole is way to big.. you would just get lost..

Oh man, I didn't read your post. I just looked at the pics. Sorry.
 
my father passed away 9 years ago. he was a bombader on a B-29 in WWII and as a small child i can remember him showing me his WWII wings.. while he was young in WWII and never went on a actual bombing mission... he did tell me stories of his training. i always had a set of these wings around growing up. another thing about my father was that he loved to sing songs from the 30's and 40's and i can recall hearing him sing "it's not the pale moon that excites me.. that thrills and delights me... it's the nearness of you" and we often would look at the starts together... he would often pint out orions belt.

Dom, e kala mai ia'u (please excuse me), I don't know how I too missed the details relating to your dad. I think it's a great thing you're doing to honor the memory of your dad, he sounds like a very cool guy. I too lost my dad but more recently in June of 2007 just 2 months after my mom's passing he dying of a broken heart after almost 60 years together. He too was WWII veteran fighting in the Pacific Theatre in New Guinea, the Philippines, and outlying islands. He too always loved to sing the oldies, and loved his Kamaka pineapple that I grew up hearing. I am eventually going to replace his stolen Kamaka, personalize it in his memory, and place it where he always kept his in easy reach above his bed in the old homestead which I presently call home again after a 29 year absence. Maybe when you get your cigar box you can do a tribute to dad, I know I will when I finally find a replacement Kamaka pineapple for my dad. Here's a toast to all our veteran dads who made so many sacrifices which made our lives today better. :cheers:
 
Update update

UPDATE UPDATE!!!

my builder has come up with some ideas for the headstock and other details.. i am saying yes to both ideas..

the wing pattern is from the wings... my father was born in 1921... and the B-29 is the plan my father flew on in WWII see photos..

1921.jpg


b-29.jpg


sweet!
 
Aloha Dom, just curious what month was your Dad born? My dad too was born in 1921 in August. Was your dad on the bombing runs over Japan? My Dad was part of the first occupation forces to land in Japanese home isles at the end of hostilities. He said every major Japanese city by the end of the war was leveled 90% or more. B-29s and their crew were very efficient. IMHO the B-29 was the most awesome bomber of WWII. Within 5 years most cities were already rebuilt due the industriousness of the Japanese people.

B-29s over Mt. Fuji
b-29fuji.jpg
b29.jpg
 
IMHO the B-29 was the most awesome bomber of WWII.

no offence, but how could a bomber be awesome that killed civilian people too? This is not against any of your fathers, seriously, I'm glad the WWII didn't end with the Nazis on the winner side. but no innocent civilian person, no child, no woman, no man should have been a target for any bomber of any nation. war against soldiers is bad enough, but war against civilians is worse. wether it was the German Luftwaffe dropping bombs on UK, the British RAF the other way round or the US Air Force dropping not only conventional bombs but also the A-Bomb on cities.

IMHO, people are human beings, not English, German, American, French, Italian or whatever. life's not about which nation you're born in but what you do in your life. If politicians or other people with "power" want to fight each other, well, go ahead, but don't abuse other people to fight in your army and die for someone else's interests.

sorry for being that off-topic. I really like the idea of your new Uke Dominic, I hope you'll have a good time with it and I think your father would love it.
 
Aloha Dom, just curious what month was your Dad born? My dad too was born in 1921 in August. Was your dad on the bombing runs over Japan? My Dad was part of the first occupation forces to land in Japanese home isles at the end of hostilities. He said every major Japanese city by the end of the war was leveled 90% or more. B-29s and their crew were very efficient. IMHO the B-29 was the most awesome bomber of WWII. Within 5 years most cities were already rebuilt due the industriousness of the Japanese people.

B-29s over Mt. Fuji
b-29fuji.jpg
b29.jpg

my father was born in June of 1921 and just as your father that would have made them both young for WWII. my father did a lot of training on the b-29 and then was put in a training role. due to this he never went on any over seas missions. near the end of the war he did have orders to go on a mission in Guam. they were preparing the b-29 for this flight when news of the bomb hit the US and the war was over 5 days later. my father was discharged at the end of the war and went home to Kansas City. our fathers were just about the same age to the day! my father had me when he was 56 so this is why a person who is 31 has a WWII father.. thanks for sharing your story.

so i see you are on the islands.. did you grow up there?
 
no offence, but how could a bomber be awesome that killed civilian people too? This is not against any of your fathers, seriously, I'm glad the WWII didn't end with the Nazis on the winner side. but no innocent civilian person, no child, no woman, no man should have been a target for any bomber of any nation. war against soldiers is bad enough, but war against civilians is worse. wether it was the German Luftwaffe dropping bombs on UK, the British RAF the other way round or the US Air Force dropping not only conventional bombs but also the A-Bomb on cities.

IMHO, people are human beings, not English, German, American, French, Italian or whatever. life's not about which nation you're born in but what you do in your life. If politicians or other people with "power" want to fight each other, well, go ahead, but don't abuse other people to fight in your army and die for someone else's interests.

sorry for being that off-topic. I really like the idea of your new Uke Dominic, I hope you'll have a good time with it and I think your father would love it.

when looking at the word "awesome"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
awe⋅some [aw-suhm] –adjective

1. inspiring awe: an awesome sight.
2. showing or characterized by awe.
3. Slang. very impressive: That new white convertible is totally awesome.

Origin:1590–1600; awe + -some 1

Related forms:
awe⋅some⋅ly, adverb
awe⋅some⋅ness, noun
------------------------------------------------------------------------

HaileISela i was using this word in class to describe much of what you talked about in your message. but i was using it in the #1 which has no value judgment on it. it just means HUGE, GREAT, LARGE.. the b-29 had an AWESOME distractive power to it.. a HUGE destructive power. but not as the slang would suggest a GOOD power, or one that should be looked upon with happiness. i think that this is what was meant in the other post.

i am teaching my students about WWII this week. yesterday they learned that 100,000 people were killed with the first atomic bomb and that 60,000 where killed with the 2nd bomb instantly, while around 40,000 died slowly over time with the after effects. this fact is AWESOME in such a bad bad way. in a matter of 4 days 200,000 human lives were taken of the face of the earth. and no matter what side you are on, no matter if you think it was right to drop the bomb or not drop the bomb it has to be one of the saddest days in human history and sound be remembered as such.

i could go on for a long time talking about this topic but i do not want this thread to turn into any kind of argument. i think you know where i stand on peace and love. and if you want to know where i stand on this event and many like it in history please see Howard Zinn "A Peoples History" you can pick it up at most book stores in any language, download the audio book, i think there is even a free copy of it on the web. if you don't have the time to read it. check out Howard Zinn you can't be neutral on a moving train the DVD. you will thank me!

d
 
when looking at the word "awesome"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
awe⋅some [aw-suhm] –adjective

1. inspiring awe: an awesome sight.
2. showing or characterized by awe.
3. Slang. very impressive: That new white convertible is totally awesome.

Origin:1590–1600; awe + -some 1

Related forms:
awe⋅some⋅ly, adverb
awe⋅some⋅ness, noun
------------------------------------------------------------------------

HaileISela i was using this word in class to describe much of what you talked about in your message. but i was using it in the #1 which has no value judgment on it. it just means HUGE, GREAT, LARGE.. the b-29 had an AWESOME distractive power to it.. a HUGE destructive power. but not as the slang would suggest a GOOD power, or one that should be looked upon with happiness. i think that this is what was meant in the other post.

i am teaching my students about WWII this week. yesterday they learned that 100,000 people were killed with the first atomic bomb and that 60,000 where killed with the 2nd bomb instantly, while around 40,000 died slowly over time with the after effects. this fact is AWESOME in such a bad bad way. in a matter of 4 days 200,000 human lives were taken of the face of the earth. and no matter what side you are on, no matter if you think it was right to drop the bomb or not drop the bomb it has to be one of the saddest days in human history and sound be remembered as such.

d

Thank you for explaining that to me Dom. I didn't know awesome had that meaning too. I'm gonna check that guy out!
 
My apologies if I gave a wrong impression when describing the B-29 with the word "awesome", not praising the negative aspects, just making a general statement of the design and technology. In many ways Dom your father was very fortunate not to see the combat first hand that people like my dad had to go through for over 2 years. He didn't talk about those years too much but he was haunted by nightmares for many years afterwards. I was fortunate to receive from my dad's sister a few years ago all the letters home that dad wrote her and his mom during the war years, amazing the things going through a young man's mind between missions.
 
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