Help Identify?

Ukebury

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I wanted to see if someone would be kind enough to please help me try and put a brand to this uke. I picked it up today in a local shop and the guys at the shop had no idea about who made it. All they knew was that it was Koa. It seemed like a great old uke and it sounded extremely good and the price was right so I bought it. I would really appreciate any info anyone could provide about what it might be. Thanks!
 

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Hmmmm, hard to say. You should probably send it to me for closer inspection :drool:
 
I've been searching all over the internet to find a match but with no luck. There are a lot that are very, very similar but I can't seem to find one that I can say is the exact same model.
 
I thought I had found a match on The Ukulele Hall of Fame's Vintage Q&A section, but the headstock is different. Check this out: http://www.ukulele.org/?Vintage_Ukulele_Q_&_A:2008_Q&A Archive look at the 23rd entry (tried to post a pic, but the link wouldn't work)... the body the matches but the headstock is different. If I were you I'd send the HoF a message with some pics and wait for their response... http://www.ukulele.org/?Vintage_Ukulele_Q_&_A:Question_Form I'd be curious to know what they say.
 
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Hey thanks HoldinCoffee, The Uke HOF had a couple on there that were pretty close just not exact. I guess i'll take some higher quality pics and send them in and see what they think.
 
Here are a couple more pics in case anyone has any ideas.
 

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try sending an email to this guy I believe i have seen a similar ukulele that he has restored but i can't seem to find it again.
 
I have a similar uke with a different headstock in my collection (there are pictures of it on my profile page here under my albums). The UHoF has a picture of a '20s Kamaka that looks similar, except yours has a narrower waist. Unfortunately, there were an awful lot of ukes from that time period (late teens-early '30s maybe) that looked a lot like that. So it is really difficult to say. Mine is a "Mouna Loa", but I have no real idea who made it or where. Regal and Harmony out of Chicago both made a TON of ukes with various names, some of which looked a lot like yours (and mine) Oscar Schmidt would be another possibility, or some other factory or small maker. It's very hard to say, since there were so many ukes made in that time period. Yours looks very well-made.
 
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Chris, Nice collection! Thanks for your information. Smithpaul60 thanks for the link. It seems like I've seen a lot of ukes where the body matches mine and has the pattern up the fingerboard but none that have the same 3 point headstock. From what I've been reading on a lot of sites is that with ukes like this you can't always have an exact identification.
 
Chris, Nice collection! Thanks for your information. Smithpaul60 thanks for the link. It seems like I've seen a lot of ukes where the body matches mine and has the pattern up the fingerboard but none that have the same 3 point headstock. From what I've been reading on a lot of sites is that with ukes like this you can't always have an exact identification.

Exactly. In the ukulele heyday, there were probably hundreds (if not THOUSANDS) of makers (most of whom are long lost in the mists of time), making MILLIONS of ukes. So who knows who made a lot of them. Just enjoy them and play them! That's what the craftsmen intended.
 
Pretty nice piece! I also think it could be from the Regal/Harmony connection. Play it hard!
 
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