Jack Hall Matchstick Uke; Thank you.

Happy New Year UU members,

I signed up after seeing an old thread “Not bookmatched, just MATCHed!” posted by Uncle Taco about the Jack Hall Matchstick Uke. If I may introduce myself, my name is Tony Hall and I reside in the City of Brighton & Hove, England, U.K. Since my father passed away in 1993 I have been the keeper and historian of his matchstick musical instrument collection and it was a great surprise to see his uke mentioned on UU.

Thank you to all members for the lovely comments and I know if my father were still around he would be thrilled that his accomplishments have been recognised by Ukulele Underground.

Kind Regards,

Tony Hall

Here's some recent photos, hope it works.

Really cool! You should be proud of your father's great craftsmanship.

WOW! That's crazy! That's pretty incredible to see.

hi Tony and warmest of welcomes to the UU mate. Hope you'll be spending some more time with us here.

Those pictures made my jaw hit the floor. That is an absolutely incredible work of art. If I may ask, you mentioned your dad's instrument 'collection'... What other instruments has he built? I'm sure we'd all love to see more of this amazing craftsmanship and stunning attention to detail. Cheers mate!

Wow that is excellent. I live in portsmouth and my nan lives in Brighton is the collection on show anywhere?

Welcome Tony. I have to say that is one of the coolest ukes that I have ever seen. If you have any other pictures of your father's ukes, we would love to see more.

Wow, that's really awesome! Thank you for sharing. I would love to see his other work, too! So how did he do it? Did he just start gluing the sticks together into the shape or did he have forms? Do you have any sound samples?

Thank you for sharing!

What an awesome companion to a cigar box uke! Do a version of "Light My Fire" and post it... :nana:

Jaw, meet chest. Chest, meet jaw.

That is just absolutely amazing - I imagine it's hard enough to make a proper uke with full size wood, accomplishing it with glued up matchsticks is nothing short of...WOW!

John

Thanks for the warm welcome and once again I am overwhelmed with everyone’s kind words and interest in my father’s ‘matchstickology’ as he coined his hobby.

If I may answer questions from UU members as follows:

EUGENE UKULELE …. Belated Birthday Wishes Jon! There are 10 matchstick instruments in the collection. 1936 violin and bow, 1936 bowl-back mandolin, 1937 acoustic guitar, 1938 flat-back mandolin, 1939 tenor banjo and the 1984 soprano ukulele. The other instruments are a 1970 pair bones, 1974 pair castanets, 1976 recorder and 1983 pair drumsticks. I have uploaded some flickr photos, video footage, potted history and details of the tools and materials that went into the construction of the violin and guitar. Not forgetting the cases made with matchboxes! Next up will be photos of the banjo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52858221@N04/

RAECARTER …. My father and I were born and raised in Brighton and I still reside in the area. No, the collection is not on show anywhere.

ELISDAD …. My father made only one of each instrument. If you would like to see other photos of the uke I’ll gladly post some more?

CHRISRCOVINGTON …. As well as the flickr link, there are more photos and the story of the why and the how my father set out on his voyage into luthier history at:
http://www.ibluegrass.com/bg_posting3.CFM?p__i=641&p__r=&p__a=match

Sorry, I don’t have any sound samples; it’s only been played once since my father made it. The uke made a brief appearance in a matchstick band performance on BBC television. See YouTube video at 6mins 57secs. Don’t blink though!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=w2VNdDV6Vzo

UKECANDOTHAT …. That’s a great tune to match up both ukes for a duet. Or, how about this one “Pictures Of Matchstick Men.” I’d love to “post it” being played, but like my father before me I can’t read or play a note! Any suggestions for a uke player of note that might be up for it?

tonyh said:

...UKECANDOTHAT …. That’s a great tune to match up both ukes for a duet. Or, how about this one “Pictures Of Matchstick Men.” I’d love to “post it” being played, but like my father before me I can’t read or play a note! Any suggestions for a uke player of note that might be up for it?

Click to expand...

Send it over, I'd be happy to lay it down! Just kidding... but seriously, "Light My Fire" is a pretty easy tune, and a great place to start learning. That's but one of the beauties of the ukulele - the ease of learning. Like slack-key master Ledward Kaapana says, "Jus' press."

I look forward to hearing it from you soon. No pressure! :nana: