Brad is best known for his Vintage Soprano but he is a luthier so can make a uke to your specs. He said my tenor was the 4th one he has made and has several tenors on the wait list. After the pics, I'm sure the demand of tenors will go up up up!!
SPECS:
All Honduran Mahogany Tenor connected at 12th fret and 16 frets total
Ebony bridge, fretboard, headstock veneer
Turquoise strip on bridge,
Peghed Tuners
Strap button on neck
Tru-oil Glossy Finish
Upgrades:
Cutaway
Maple Binding w/ endgraft
K&K Twinspot
Sunburst
Carbon Fiber Rod
Radius Fretboard
Side soundport
First of all, I would like to say Brad is a delight to work with! Since it was a custom, I didn’t want it to look like a production uke and I am very happy with the final product. There were two things I really wanted: (1) Blue (Favorite Color and UCLA alum) somewhere on the uke and (2) Sunburst. I wanted Blue sunburst but Brad talked me out of it as he thought it would be way out there. He did a tasteful job of my request and the sunburst is very time consuming since it’s applied by hand. Throughout the process, he was very sincere and was very enthused about making MY uke. I'm sure you'll have the same experience.
We chose Honduran Mahogany because I like the sound of Hog in general and Honduran is becoming harder to find. What’s even better is that the top and back are both one piece so there won’t be any issues of seam separation. I went with the upper bout sound hole so that more surface area to vibrate.
I wanted 15 frets to the body but he advised against it as he would have to move the bridge or extend the scale so we agreed on the cutaway. He had a proven winner in the 17” design and if he extends the scale, he would have to consider different bracing so I didn’t want mess with it. Since it connects at the 12th fret, the bridge is lower than my other ukes.
His tenor is ever so slightly smaller than my Koaloha and thinner as well. For reference, I put it in a tweed tenor case, which tends to run a tad small but the Donaldson fit in snuggly. I'm glad it fit cuz I had an extra case until now
My uke is #208 (he labels them chronologically), which is very important to me as I wanted someone who has experience as a luthier. I know more and more people are making handmade instruments but I believe there is an art and takes practice in making musical instruments sound good. For reference, I asked in a thread in Dec how many stringed instruments built and here are some people with at least 200 builds: Chuck Moore 450, Pete Howlett 530, Jake Macclay 275, Jake Calkin 275, Aaron Keim 220.
I will include a video to compare it to my other three tenors. I will make a comment about the sound at that time.
HOPE YOU LIKE THE PICS!!!
SPECS:
All Honduran Mahogany Tenor connected at 12th fret and 16 frets total
Ebony bridge, fretboard, headstock veneer
Turquoise strip on bridge,
Peghed Tuners
Strap button on neck
Tru-oil Glossy Finish
Upgrades:
Cutaway
Maple Binding w/ endgraft
K&K Twinspot
Sunburst
Carbon Fiber Rod
Radius Fretboard
Side soundport
First of all, I would like to say Brad is a delight to work with! Since it was a custom, I didn’t want it to look like a production uke and I am very happy with the final product. There were two things I really wanted: (1) Blue (Favorite Color and UCLA alum) somewhere on the uke and (2) Sunburst. I wanted Blue sunburst but Brad talked me out of it as he thought it would be way out there. He did a tasteful job of my request and the sunburst is very time consuming since it’s applied by hand. Throughout the process, he was very sincere and was very enthused about making MY uke. I'm sure you'll have the same experience.
We chose Honduran Mahogany because I like the sound of Hog in general and Honduran is becoming harder to find. What’s even better is that the top and back are both one piece so there won’t be any issues of seam separation. I went with the upper bout sound hole so that more surface area to vibrate.
I wanted 15 frets to the body but he advised against it as he would have to move the bridge or extend the scale so we agreed on the cutaway. He had a proven winner in the 17” design and if he extends the scale, he would have to consider different bracing so I didn’t want mess with it. Since it connects at the 12th fret, the bridge is lower than my other ukes.
His tenor is ever so slightly smaller than my Koaloha and thinner as well. For reference, I put it in a tweed tenor case, which tends to run a tad small but the Donaldson fit in snuggly. I'm glad it fit cuz I had an extra case until now
My uke is #208 (he labels them chronologically), which is very important to me as I wanted someone who has experience as a luthier. I know more and more people are making handmade instruments but I believe there is an art and takes practice in making musical instruments sound good. For reference, I asked in a thread in Dec how many stringed instruments built and here are some people with at least 200 builds: Chuck Moore 450, Pete Howlett 530, Jake Macclay 275, Jake Calkin 275, Aaron Keim 220.
I will include a video to compare it to my other three tenors. I will make a comment about the sound at that time.
HOPE YOU LIKE THE PICS!!!
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