Ukes at Healdsburg

Just back from the Healdsburg Guitar Festival and am happy to report a stronger than expected showing of ukuleles there. There is a post in uke talk about Michi Matsuda's truly original take on an uke...that instrument was WAY cool. A few other guitar builders had an uke or two, including Ken Franklin, Bruce Sexauer and Dry Creek Guitars (well, it was a baritone, but kinda like an uke). There were a few others scattered about the halls as well.

There was only one builder showing only ukes, and that was UU member (Jake) Maclay with his Hive Ukuleles. He had four on display and they looked and sounded great. It took a few passes by his table just to get a chance to say hello as he seemed pretty busy most times we went by.

Mrs. Two Dogs and I had a wonderful time at the show, saw some beautiful instruments and got some cool ideas for the future. I left re-invigorated and itching to get back to the shop.

So congrats to Jake...it was nice to see the ukulele and UU so well represented at show!

Steve

Hey Steve, howzit going? Shootz, the Fest was a week to early . . . I'll be in that area next week. Oh Well! Hopefully see ya at Napa in Sept.

Kanaka916 said:

Hey Steve, howzit going? Shootz, the Fest was a week to early . . . I'll be in that area next week. Oh Well! Hopefully see ya at Napa in Sept.

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Sorry you missed it, it was a great and eye opening weekend. We plan to get to Napa next month, hopefully with a couple new ukes.

Hey two dogs. The show was a lot of fun, and it was nice to meet you and the Mrs. Sorry we didn't have more time to talk, it was a busy weekend....my head is still spinning.

Oh.......its Jake (not John)

Sorry, Jake. Fixed it. Guess I was paying more attention to your ukes than your name tag.

two dogs plucking said:

Sorry, Jake. Fixed it. Guess I was paying more attention to your ukes than your name tag.

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lol.....Nice save Steve

Woodley White from the Big Island was also there with some ukes.

Though it is true I was not there for Ukes (Healdsburg GUITAR Festival), I did have three Ukes to show. I made them all in the 2 weeks before the show as I had a little extra time. the first was an all Koa Tenor. The second (they were made one at a time) was very like the first, but was made almost entirely from Catalpa, a tree I cut myself in Mill Valley CA, about 20 years ago. The third was also a Tenor, but is an asymmetrical multiscale steel string, so is sort of a Cavaquinho, actually. I tune it as a low G Uke though, and it sounds surprisingly like a Uke except louder, way louder. Perhaps because I am not known as a Uke maker, these are all still for sale, (none was commissioned) despite their being of the highest quality I am able to manifest. When I find the time I will likely put one or two into Eric Schoenberg's guitar shop as he has be successful selling them for me in the past.

Very nice Bruce. And good to see you here! Eric's shop has been good to me before as well.

Bruce Sexauer said:

Though it is true I was not there for Ukes (Healdsburg GUITAR Festival), I did have three Ukes to show. I made them all in the 2 weeks before the show as I had a little extra time. the first was an all Koa Tenor. The second (they were made one at a time) was very like the first, but was made almost entirely from Catalpa, a tree I cut myself in Mill Valley CA, about 20 years ago. The third was also a Tenor, but is an asymmetrical multiscale steel string, so is sort of a Cavaquinho, actually. I tune it as a low G Uke though, and it sounds surprisingly like a Uke except louder, way louder. Perhaps because I am not known as a Uke maker, these are all still for sale, (none was commissioned) despite their being of the highest quality I am able to manifest. When I find the time I will likely put one or two into Eric Schoenberg's guitar shop as he has be successful selling them for me in the past.

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Love that one - I assume the "Cavaquinho"! Please post pics of your other ones too.

I suspect that they will have a greater appeal to guitarists Bruce, being very guitar like...

I know his is a super old thread, and I should probably start a new one, but I haven't been up to much in the Uke world since my last post in this thread, so I thought I'd go back to my ground zero in this forum.

Since making those 3 "ukes" for HGF 2 years ago I have made no more till just this week. I am about to finish the next two so I thought to revisit this site! I am primarily a guitar maker, but every time I make a ukulele I am quickly reminded of everything that is great about them.

The 2 are both all Koa, including for the first time the necks, which in the past I have made from Honduras Mahogany scraps from my guitars. one of these will be a Concert (15"), and the other will be a second attempt at the JB-Uke, which is the steel string asymmetric. This first JB-Uke was so cool for me (yes, I'm a guitar player) I never actually offered it for sale and it hangs in my shop within easy reach. I plan to offer the new one, and someone will be very happy to discover it, I imagine.

I am binding these at the moment, and will hopefully think of putting up pictures in a few weeks when they are strung. Finish goes a bit slowly as I use Oil Varnish for them and it cannot be rushed. Thanks for reading.

Bruce Sexauer said:

I know his is a super old thread, and I should probably start a new one, but I haven't been up to much in the Uke world since my last post in this thread, so I thought I'd go back to my ground zero in this forum.

Since making those 3 "ukes" for HGF 2 years ago I have made no more till just this week. I am about to finish the next two so I thought to revisit this site! I am primarily a guitar maker, but every time I make a ukulele I am quickly reminded of everything that is great about them.

The 2 are both all Koa, including for the first time the necks, which in the past I have made from Honduras Mahogany scraps from my guitars. one of these will be a Concert (15"), and the other will be a second attempt at the JB-Uke, which is the steel string asymmetric. This first JB-Uke was so cool for me (yes, I'm a guitar player) I never actually offered it for sale and it hangs in my shop within easy reach. I plan to offer the new one, and someone will be very happy to discover it, I imagine.

I am binding these at the moment, and will hopefully think of putting up pictures in a few weeks when they are strung. Finish goes a bit slowly as I use Oil Varnish for them and it cannot be rushed. Thanks for reading.

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Yeah Bruce

I may be interested in one of your ukes...but with normal strings on it...although i use a set with a steel G and C string on my ukes now

do you plan on building more or just "for fun" give me your website/email and I will contact you...thxs

Bruce Sexauer said:

I know his is a super old thread, and I should probably start a new one, but I haven't been up to much in the Uke world since my last post in this thread, so I thought I'd go back to my ground zero in this forum.

Since making those 3 "ukes" for HGF 2 years ago I have made no more till just this week. I am about to finish the next two so I thought to revisit this site! I am primarily a guitar maker, but every time I make a ukulele I am quickly reminded of everything that is great about them.

The 2 are both all Koa, including for the first time the necks, which in the past I have made from Honduras Mahogany scraps from my guitars. one of these will be a Concert (15"), and the other will be a second attempt at the JB-Uke, which is the steel string asymmetric. This first JB-Uke was so cool for me (yes, I'm a guitar player) I never actually offered it for sale and it hangs in my shop within easy reach. I plan to offer the new one, and someone will be very happy to discover it, I imagine.

I am binding these at the moment, and will hopefully think of putting up pictures in a few weeks when they are strung. Finish goes a bit slowly as I use Oil Varnish for them and it cannot be rushed. Thanks for reading.

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Okay, I'm already jonesing over that steel string you're building since you posted about the one you made in 2011. I've become a big fan of steel strings after getting myself a tenor guitar a few years ago, and I recently got a Compass Rose steel string baritone. Please let me know when your steel string uke becomes available and how I might acquire it.

mds725 said:

Okay, I'm already jonesing over that steel string you're building since you posted about the one you made in 2011. I've become a big fan of steel strings after getting myself a tenor guitar a few years ago, and I recently got a Compass Rose steel string baritone. Please let me know when your steel string uke becomes available and how I might acquire it.

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Hey Mark...I knew you would be interested....and he only about 45 mins from you...
I know that Bruce is a World class guitar builder so I thought about one of his ukes....good luck,let me know how they are

hawaii 50 said:

Hey Mark...I knew you would be interested....and he only about 45 mins from you...
I know that Bruce is a World class guitar builder so I thought about one of his ukes....good luck,let me know how they are

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Thanks, Len. I have absolutely no idea whether Bruce is going to save his steel string uke for me, but I can always hope, right? I'm still kicking myself for not going to the 2011 Healdsburg Guitar Festival! Maybe this year....

mds725 said:

Thanks, Len. I have absolutely no idea whether Bruce is going to save his steel string uke for me, but I can always hope, right? I'm still kicking myself for not going to the 2011 Healdsburg Guitar Festival! Maybe this year....

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I would take that nice drvie to his shop and say hello!

I am not used to get such good response in the guitar forums I habituate! Thank you very much, and attention hound that I may be, I will try not to be as much of a stranger here as I have been, this being my 6th post and my join date being in 2009!

Should mds735 wish to make the drive, today is good for me. Sunday less so, but anytime during the week, with a phone call to make sure, works. I have two completed Ukes on hand, counting the steel string. The other is my first, I think, and is a combination of Koa and Oz Blackwood. It is a tenor, and is on permanent loan to my live in daughter. I have to call it a loan as the alternative is to say she stole it. She has written a number of tunes on it and I couldn't be more proud. In other words, you can play them, but you can't buy them.

Neither of the incomplete Ukes is spoken for, I have been thinking of putting them in Schoenberg's store in Tiburon as he has quickly sold every Uke I've given him, and I have never sold one directly myself. I am not known as a Uke maker, and get very little traffic of Uke-ists in my workshop, so it was predictable. My contact information is on my contact page which is linked to the banner at the top of virtually every page in my site. Add the normal tags to: mojoluthier and you'll be at my site, or use my last name and the word "guitar" in google and you'll get links in the first page of results. I hesitate to put it straight up on this site as I have no business agreement here. Perhaps I'll give changing that some thought.

Thank you!!!

Edited to say I am perfectly willing to make more of these JB-Ukes, and they don't take much time, either, though I will continue to make them one at a time. I have never wanted to be a production guy, preferring to be an "artiste" and try to improve each one as compared to the last.

Hi Bruce,

I sent you an email before seeing your most recent post in this thread. Please feel free to respond to that, or to this post. I've had a chance to visit your website and I was very impressed by your guitars. (I just began learning guitar, but I don't expect to ever buy a fancy one.) As for visiting you at your shop, I'd love to but this weekend isn't good for me, unfortunately. However, I might be able to take a morning off from work one day this coming week, and I'm free the weekend of January 11-12. If you prefer to continue to sell your instruments through the shop in Tiburon, I could always go there. I live just on the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge and I've bicycled to Tiburon now and again. Thanks for the response!

Selling my instruments through a shop costs the buyer and seller as it adds a third party who then gets ALL of the profit, and in some cases also requires the seller to lose. Certainly true when selling used stuff, as everyone here likely knows, as the market will only sustain a certain price, almost always less the original owner paid, and then there's the commission. Ouch! But we do what works. I'd MUCH rather sell direct as I get more, and you pay less in most cases, certainly in this one as I have no professional agreements with the "reseller" around Ukuleles.

I did respond to your email, thank you, and will add that any morning this week looks good from this moment, and that I expect to be around the 11th, but not the 12th. Please do make sure I know you're coming before you go out of your way as I'd hate to miss you almost as much as you'd hate to go so far and miss me!

Here's a picture of the JB with the second half of the top binding/purfling going on, which I took minutes ago. There is carbon fiber in the neck on account of the steel strings.