Martin Konter Uke

I noticed Martin released 1K Konter replica uke on their site. Amazing, maybe not for the price but it’s cool.

"He took Favilla brand ukuleles on the Antarctic Expeditions, but did not succeed in getting any of them flown over the South Pole. A signed instrument was given to the Favilla Company for their museum" -
from Wikipedia.

What a guy, I'll bet he was the life of the party. Interested to know what happened to the Favilla signed uke.
I wouldn't go for a facsimile Martin, but if someone in a dark alley offered me the original.... (I'd return it, of course!!)

Here’s the video:

One more video about the Konter Ukulele...the speaker mentions that Martin had already produced three replicas at that time (2017). It was also scanned a number of ways by the Smithsonian. Someone must have said...”Couldn’t we just laser engrave these on a ukulele and sell them that way?” Someone else must have said, “Let’s do it on Koa, throw in a case, and charge $2500 for it.”

Was the original Koa or Mahogany?

The original was an early 1920s 1K, so koa. He first tried to get an endorsement deal with Martin, and in 1952 traded it in for a Martin guitar.

At least Martin USA is making a Koa Soprano. Yay! I hope they sell a lot of them. I loved the story about that ukulele in Ukulele magazine a while back. I am (mostly, and hope I stay that way!) a $500 or less ukulele/guitar player, so not the target market but I am so glad to see them adding to their soprano offerings! That is hopeful! I look at all the wonderful sale offers on this board and lust...then remember that a cool and expensive uke will not make me sound better and that i am fortunate to some wonderful uses...and it is ok to dream about the someday soon Baritone...Ha!