"Jazz Uke" by T. Hank Robinson For Sale on Elderly, in Maple & Spruce

Just wanted to alert anyone who's been looking for "Jazz Uke" by T. Hank Robinson, there is one now available on Elderly Instruments website. I almost bought it,......but i've got enough going on already, and already own one.

The back and sides are solid maple, and what looks to be a hand carved spruce top. The maple back is flat, hovever, unlike a steel string archtop. He didn't make a lot of them,.....this one is "Maple #4", i own Maple #2.
He was an amature luthier, so keep that in mind. But overall i think a good value for what's there.

The one for sale now appears to have the friction tuners better placed. On mine, one of the tuners is noticably positioned more inward than the tuner opposite. Cosmetic only, but the guy looks to have put his heart into these.

http://elderly.com/vintage/items/180U-1604.htm

I bought the last one they had listed there, and mine was $100 pricier. This one is priced at $1650.00
Sounds like a lot,....but compare that to anyone using solid woods and carving a spruce top on a quality
guitar archtop.

I know,....because last year i commissioned a Bill Gagnon quilt maple/spruce archtop and his price was "reasonable" for that type of custom guitar,....at $7500.00! It sounds wonderful, and the only change i made to it was replacing the knurled bridge height adjusters with some solid ebony washers of a thickness that was perfect to my action wishes. The ebony provides a more direct connection between the upper and lower bridge sections, and sounds a bit "woodier" to my ears also. It is strictly "acoustic", so it now wears D'Addario phospher/bronze lights on it. (easy to go back to the adjustable metal ones also)

Just a little more info on the Jazz Uke,.....when mine arrived, i couldn't help but notice the fretboard is set with wider than necessary guitar type frets, and a lot of ends stick up a bit. Common with some guitar builders delving into other
areas sometimes.

My fretboard is flat with just a touch of relief, and i just got in from Stew-Mac some thinner Mandolin style fretwire,.....for another refret project down the line!

The neck is beefy, which i like for a tenor sized uke anyway. The scale is a bit longer at 18-1/8" or so, i presume to allow higher string tension drive the top a bit more..

As is typical on a carved top archtop ukulele, the notes are a bit more muted than on a usual flatop tenor. I imagine the overall softer tension of the ukulele strings don't help here, compared to on a steel strung guitar. I'm also thinking of
making a little wider bridge than the banjo stye he used,....to try to get more of the top involved. (i'll keep the original intact) But you do get a different sounding tenor with one of these.

It is set up with a transducer pickup,......but i don't play thru an amp. Mine worked, but it's not like what is currently
available.

There is a guy on the web that talks about taking the back off of one of these ukes, and lightening the braces. He plays gigs with his now, and says it's the best sounding tenor he's heard! (can't think of his name right now) He's experimented with various pickups befrore settleing on some miking setup, maybe with a transducer also.

He did say it helped a LOT to bring out more volumn and tone,......so at some point i may tackle that! (i've done it before on an old Kays archtop, big improvement!)

I guess what i'm saying, expect to want to refret it, and consider it a "base" to work on from there! :cheers:

That's certainly a sexy-looking instrument right there.

byjimini said:

That's certainly a sexy-looking instrument right there.

Click to expand...

You don't get out much, do you......

BTW,...one of the initial things that appealed to me were the non-traditional sound holes.

Elderly calls them "J" holes, and the one on the left does look like a "J". However, the reversed "J" on the right looks a lot like a "T" to me......

.....matching my initials: J T

http://elderly.com/vintage/items/180U-1627.htm

no. 4 back on elderly again, jj

Interested in the Jazz Uke on Elderly

Hi,

First post on this forum. I searched "Jazz Ukuleles" and came up with this discussion (and this forum). I was a serious fingerstyle jazz, ragtime, acoustic blues, etc. guitarist until I suffered a major stroke 7 years ago. I lost almost total sensitivity in my right hand and fingers, and basically gave up playing the guitar. However, I purchased some ukuleles on eBay - 1950's Gibson tenor, 1970's Kamaka 6-string tenor, and 1940's Martin soprano. I have been playing jazz uke for several years from materials that I purchased from Fleamarketmusic.com, Lyle Ritz style, or a facsimile of his playing. Anyway, I decided to treat myself with a jazzier uke, and I am interested in this Robinson one at Elderly. I used to buy a lot of used/vintage instruments, etc. there and was very satisfied with their quality.

Other than the somewhat muted sound, can you provide any more description of the sound quality? Is the sustain similar to the tenors that I currently own, or that you have heard? I have listened to several videos at makers sites of archtop tenor ukes, and the sustain seems to be much better than what I currently own. Those are instruments costing twice as much as this one on Elderly, though. Do you know anything about the maker, T. Hank Robinson? Did you replace the frets, or change anything else on your Robinson uke? How did that affect the sound?

I have purchased custom guitars from somewhat unknown luthiers in the past, and have had the expected mixed results - some were great and others were not so great! I suppose I would be safer to purchase one from a known maker, but I have always enjoyed having unusual instruments, even those that turned out to be disappointing. This ukulele "looks" as if it should fill my desires, but I am a bit wary as to how it sounds.

Thanks,

Dick Schneiders

No offense, but from your description I dont see why anyone would want to buy this uke.
To each his own I guess...

Not to change the subject, bit if you are interested in an archtop uke, consider British luthier Toby Chennell, who does wonderful work and is very reasonably priced.

http://www.jazzboxukes.com/

Thanks for that link to Toby Chennell. Wonderful looking and sounding (from the several videos). I only saw one currently for sale, a concert at 475 pounds, and I didn't find a pricing page. Is that a typical price for his ukes? That certainly is quite inexpensive for a custom instrument.