Ukulele Ron Yasuda

Hello Everybody,

I am looking after a tenor Ukulele from Ron Yasuda. But I live in Germany, far fromm Hawaii. If someone owns one, or know how I can find one, or better, knows a mail adress or something to contact Ron Yasuda, then write me ! I would be happy
I just find one post about him on the forum. Does someone has information about him, his store, If he is still building uke ?

Not sure if you are aware, but pretty sure Ron has not made any ukes in years. I had the pleasure of finding a soprano on eBay (I think) that I later sold here on UU.

Yes I saw your post !
I don't know. There is a video on youtube from july 2017 with title "Deaf ukulele maker" where you can see Yasuda in his atelier building his ukes and talking about it. But of course I canot understand anyword beacause it s all in sign language without any subtitle.
Then in the comment there is a guy who wrote one year ago "I just got off the VP with Ron. He says his equipment is broken and will need some time to replace and re-wire for electricity. He uses a fax machine to take orders. Thanks!"
So it seems that at this time he maybe didnt want to stop so soon building uke. And that was just one year ago.
It s a little bit crazy beacause according what I read he might be over 80. He went to Kamaka on 1958

Can you tell me a little bit more about your uke, how it was ?

I have one soprano that I found by chance. Unfortunately the previous owner had no idea what a gem she had and it was in really bad shape. After a full restoration and crack repair it is my go to Ukulele. It is super light and well balanced. I changed the old black nylon strings for Aquila reds and it plays beautifully. Great sound and sustain. As far as the wood used, mine has amazing curly koa grain.

There is not much info about him on the internet and i was not aware that he could be still building, but his instruments were amazing and i would understand if there are not many for sale.

papafreeman said:

Hello Everybody,

I am looking after a tenor Ukulele from Ron Yasuda. But I live in Germany, far fromm Hawaii. If someone owns one, or know how I can find one, or better, knows a mail adress or something to contact Ron Yasuda, then write me ! I would be happy
I just find one post about him on the forum. Does someone has information about him, his store, If he is still building uke ?

Click to expand...

Reverb has a 6 String tenor
https://reverb.com/item/21194707-preowned-ron-yasuda-tenor-6-string-ukulele

Thank you Karlgeist. The few ppole who wrote about it on internet are all saying the best things about these instruments. I m happy for you hat you has this uke.
Yes I saw this 6 strings. It looks very beautiful. But it is with spruce top, not same the same sound and feel like a koa top. And it is a 6 strings ...
I thought maybe I could convert it into a 4 strings one. But dont know i it can sound so good as a 4 string one then.

But this fax number shouldn t be so hard to find right ? Then could definitive know if he is still building or not.

papafreeman said:

Can you tell me a little bit more about your uke, how it was ?

Click to expand...

It was nice. Had great tone. Good luck with your search!!

I have an 8 string Ron Yasuda that I'm willing to consider selling. it is a solid koa. It sounds beautiful. Could use a refinish but that would be up to the buyer. Let me know. Kimo

Thank you for your message Kimo

After 2 week of research I managed to find someone who was ble to contact Ron Yasuda for me. He is alive, he is 83 years old And yes, he is still building (!).
So I wrote him a letter. I hope I will get an answer.
If not then I come back to you, Kimo. The thing is that I am not so really interested on playing 8 strings. I already thought about convert 8 or 6 strings into a 4 strings one but I afraid the uke would be than not sounding so good because it is not the same built.
I don t know actually if it really makes a big difference except the head.