Can any of you gracious folks help me identify a ukulele that was just purchased? No identifying marks can be found. I'd also like to ask if anyone knows if the wood it is made of is Koa? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
It sure looks like koa to me. And very nicely figured koa, at that.
No idea who made it from the pics, but I am thinking maple
Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum has been most helpful to me in the past. http://www.ukulele.org/
Better pictures would help. I'd like to see the back of the headstock, among other things.
Didn't Regal make some in this style on the Mainland?
+1 on asking Chuck.
I'd say it's Hawaiian, and pretty early ('20s or so).... the way the neck heel is capped by the back is a common feature on Hawaiian ukes, from what I have read, although it's not UNHEARD of on mainland-made ukes. It's definitely koa. I'm wondering if the bridge is a replacement... it doesn't seem quite right somehow. It is pretty similar to the Mossman mentioned above, but the bridge saddle looks different. It has the same sort of "Batman" headstock. It might be one of those unknowable things...