Antonio Carvalho ukes

jhob

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Has anyone heard of this brand of uke? A friend is offering me a really good deal on an antonio carvalho tenor, can be seen on the right here: http://www.mevtaylors.co.uk/ukelele_carvalho.htm

It certainly looks very nice and I love the binding, I'm told that the top back and sides are koa, the neck Mahogany, fret board african rosewood and the headstock veneered with the same.

So is it any good? I can find surprisingly little about these ukes on the net.
 
Just because you haven't found anything on the net, doesn't mean that it isn't a good instrument. You cannot imagine how many talented builders there are here (in Hawai`i), and you'll never see their stuff (of course, a lot of them show at the Ukulele Guild Exhibition).

I'll stretch that one even further - everyone knows Kamaka, KoAloha and G-String. Have most people seen (much less played) a Casey Kamaka, Paul Okami or Derek Shimizu Custom? You won't find a whole lot of them floating around, nor much information on them either.

If you're buying from a friend, he/she should let you check it out before purchase, or at least provide really good specs along with a sound bite (or video, or phone demo).
 
Bump.

I saw a couple of these kicking around at various sites. Has anyone checked them out? I'm suspicious of a solid koa tenor for under £200.
 
I would be suspicious too. Wouldn't surprise me if it is a koa-like wood, rather than genuine koa, either.

I didn't buy the uke in the end - tried it out and didn't like it too much - seemed rather over-built and dead sounding, I wouldn't recommend. I much prefer the sound from my laminate mahogany mahalo tenor.

They are very pretty ukes though.
 
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Looks very much like my Excelsius.
excelsius.jpg


I heard that APC (Antonio Carvalho?), Excelsius and Cordoba are pretty much the same instruments.
And it seems it's try and error here, some are really great, and some are trash.

My Excelsius is the best ukulele I have.
 
Antonio Pinto Carvalho of Portugal produces really beautiful ukuleles along with a host of other traditional Portuguese instruments. All Carvalho instruments can be viewed on their website apc-instruments.
 
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