vintage "KAM" uke on eBay

Aloha JR1940,
Haven't seen a Kamaka like that...it has the hawaiian coat of arms on its decal and similar fretboard of mixed years of kamaka....the friction tuners suggests it to look like a early model, while
other things not.. and the decal's age too...could be an early copy...
 
It's not a Kamaka. "Kam" was another builder entirely. I believe the builder's name is An Tao Kam. From what I understand, these are not of the same quality as Kamakas.
 
Another slightly challenging item is the wooden tuning peg. Kamaka no longer owns a jig, or die to make them, and won't hand carve one for anyone, even a Kamaka.

I have an old Jessie Kalima soprano that is unplayable and I suspected it was a Kamaka, but no joy, I asked about the lost tuning peg and they said pretty much out of luck.
 
Piikea said:
Another slightly challenging item is the wooden tuning peg. Kamaka no longer owns a jig, or die to make them, and won't hand carve one for anyone, even a Kamaka.

I have an old Jessie Kalima soprano that is unplayable and I suspected it was a Kamaka, but no joy, I asked about the lost tuning peg and they said pretty much out of luck.
Click to expand...

Mike Da Silva used them on the his customs..you might want to contact him for wooden tuning pegs... http://www.ukemaker.com/DaSilva-InstrumentsForSale.html
 
Well that was an interesting little history lesson! It sure sold fast.
 
hmgberg said:
I think the Ebay seller's listing is/was misleading - not that he or she intended to mislead, but not many people know about Kam and so they think it is Kam - aka! Here is a link to an article about Kam (sort of) with a picture of a very fancy one of his ukuleles:

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/great-guitars-a-uke-to-pay-for-dentistry/
Click to expand...

Wow, very fancy! Thanks for the interesting read. I don't think the seller was trying to be misleading either; seems what little can be found online does sort of tenuously connect Kam and Kamaka.

If the eBay uke had been prettier, for 99 bucks I might have bought it :)
 
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