Moore Bettah Ukuleles
Well-known member
Here's an uke I just finished for Ledward Kaapana, one of Hawaii's great slack key masters. Hopefully he will play it at the Prairie Home Companion show on Oahu on New Years Eve.
It's a very personalized piece; the head stock inlay is of the black sand beach in Kalapana where Ledward grew up and learned to play music. The beach is no longer there as it was over taken by lava in the mid 1980s. The Kalapana/Kaimu area is known as the birth place of Hawaiian slack key music and is only a few miles from where I live. It still hosts weekly local music on the edge of the lava flow.
The "Jus' Press" on the fret board refers to the answer Ledward would get when trying to learn from his elders as a boy. When he asked how to play a certain passage they would answer "Jus' press!" It's also the name of Ledward's first album.
By locating the sound hole in the upper bout I am able to move the horizontal bracing up a bit, leaving a larger area of the lower bout to resonate. The result is a ukulele that has a bit more volume than the traditional designs I build.
The uke also features the new LR Baggs "Five-0" ukulele pickup with volume control (hidden just within the sound hole.) First impressions is that it sounds a lot like the MiSi's I'm used to installing, perhaps a bit more natural. A better amp than mine would be needed to truly evaluate it. Admittedly, I haven't spent much time with it (I just finished the uke last night) but so far I like it. It's powered by a coin type battery, good for about 300 hours.
It's a very personalized piece; the head stock inlay is of the black sand beach in Kalapana where Ledward grew up and learned to play music. The beach is no longer there as it was over taken by lava in the mid 1980s. The Kalapana/Kaimu area is known as the birth place of Hawaiian slack key music and is only a few miles from where I live. It still hosts weekly local music on the edge of the lava flow.
The "Jus' Press" on the fret board refers to the answer Ledward would get when trying to learn from his elders as a boy. When he asked how to play a certain passage they would answer "Jus' press!" It's also the name of Ledward's first album.
By locating the sound hole in the upper bout I am able to move the horizontal bracing up a bit, leaving a larger area of the lower bout to resonate. The result is a ukulele that has a bit more volume than the traditional designs I build.
The uke also features the new LR Baggs "Five-0" ukulele pickup with volume control (hidden just within the sound hole.) First impressions is that it sounds a lot like the MiSi's I'm used to installing, perhaps a bit more natural. A better amp than mine would be needed to truly evaluate it. Admittedly, I haven't spent much time with it (I just finished the uke last night) but so far I like it. It's powered by a coin type battery, good for about 300 hours.
