Visited a Master Luthier

ksiegel

ksiegel

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Hey, Y'all!

My wife Nancy and I accepted Rick Turner's invitation to visit the shop, and drove down to Santa Cruz yesterday.

A wonderful and gracious gentleman, Rick gave us almost 2 hours of his valuable time, showed us around the shop, and answered just about every question we could think of. One of his luthiers was working on a Uke, and answered a lot more questions.

(Including:

Gary: Your uke should be done in 3 days - the body was in the paint booth, and I took a photo of the neck/fingerboard. Awesome Inlay! You want to see it? (g)

Gillian: Thanks for mentioning the Sequoia! Great backstory, and the stuff is light as a feather! I'm looking forward to that instrument!)

The piece de resistance was when first, Rick handed me an awesome Cherry ukulele to play (and I didn't want to give it back!) - and then he walked back into the office with the Fabled leather Reunion Blues Mandolin Case, and handed me his personal Koa Uke.

Amazing! I had to work hard not to drool all over it as I was playing. I swear that I played better with that instrument than I do normally!

The UAS has kicked into high gear, and Nancy understands.

Time to start saving for the next next instrument!

here's a photo of the Great Man with the two Ukes:

rick turner.jpg

It was a wonderful destination trip, and I'm glad we were able to sneak away from the Family Obligations to do this. Thanks Again, Rick - I hope the Gewertrz is as good with the turkey as it was when we tasted it!

Coming on Friday: The Yarn/Pub/Uke crawl with TCW and TCK!

-Kurt​
 
Sounds like a great time.
Can't wait to see Gary's.
I see a Reunion blues gig bag in that pic too.
What? No update on mine.:( oh well....
 
ksiegel said:
Hey, Y'all!

My wife Nancy and I accepted Rick Turner's invitation to visit the shop, and drove down to Santa Cruz yesterday.

A wonderful and gracious gentleman, Rick gave us almost 2 hours of his valuable time, showed us around the shop, and answered just about every question we could think of. One of his luthiers was working on a Uke, and answered a lot more questions.

(Including:

Gary: Your uke should be done in 3 days - the body was in the paint booth, and I took a photo of the neck/fingerboard. Awesome Inlay! You want to see it? (g)

Gillian: Thanks for mentioning the Sequoia! Great backstory, and the stuff is light as a feather! I'm looking forward to that instrument!)

The piece de resistance was when first, Rick handed me an awesome Cherry ukulele to play (and I didn't want to give it back!) - and then he walked back into the office with the Fabled leather Reunion Blues Mandolin Case, and handed me his personal Koa Uke.

Amazing! I had to work hard not to drool all over it as I was playing. I swear that I played better with that instrument than I do normally!

The UAS has kicked into high gear, and Nancy understands.

Time to start saving for the next next instrument!

here's a photo of the Great Man with the two Ukes:

View attachment 45626

It was a wonderful destination trip, and I'm glad we were able to sneak away from the Family Obligations to do this. Thanks Again, Rick - I hope the Gewertrz is as good with the turkey as it was when we tasted it!

Coming on Friday: The Yarn/Pub/Uke crawl with TCW and TCK!

-Kurt​
Click to expand...

Glad you had a great visit!

Isn't his personal player cool?! I like the Bob Hope/neck story. Boggles the mind to think what one of his ukes would sound like if he could build with no consideration for looks. I'm still not sure about Friday but I'll definitely PM you when I do know. Would love to meet up with you guys at Smiley's.

Waiting for the fretboard pic.

::stare::
 
ksiegel said:
Hey, Y'all!

My wife Nancy and I accepted Rick Turner's invitation to visit the shop, and drove down to Santa Cruz yesterday.

A wonderful and gracious gentleman, Rick gave us almost 2 hours of his valuable time, showed us around the shop, and answered just about every question we could think of. One of his luthiers was working on a Uke, and answered a lot more questions.

(Including:

Gary: Your uke should be done in 3 days - the body was in the paint booth, and I took a photo of the neck/fingerboard. Awesome Inlay! You want to see it? (g)

Gillian: Thanks for mentioning the Sequoia! Great backstory, and the stuff is light as a feather! I'm looking forward to that instrument!)

The piece de resistance was when first, Rick handed me an awesome Cherry ukulele to play (and I didn't want to give it back!) - and then he walked back into the office with the Fabled leather Reunion Blues Mandolin Case, and handed me his personal Koa Uke.

Amazing! I had to work hard not to drool all over it as I was playing. I swear that I played better with that instrument than I do normally!

The UAS has kicked into high gear, and Nancy understands.

Time to start saving for the next next instrument!

here's a photo of the Great Man with the two Ukes:

View attachment 45626

It was a wonderful destination trip, and I'm glad we were able to sneak away from the Family Obligations to do this. Thanks Again, Rick - I hope the Gewertrz is as good with the turkey as it was when we tasted it!

Coming on Friday: The Yarn/Pub/Uke crawl with TCW and TCK!

-Kurt​
Click to expand...




I knew you would appreciate Rick Turner..i spent an hour with him and enjoyed every second..he built me a Koa CR that is unreal..and I have a macassar ebony/sinker redwood CR on order..you can read all the stuff that Rick post on the UU..but until you meet him i dont think you can understand how much he loves doing what he does..i still say i wish i was him!..all the living he has done makes me jealous

you got to meet John the other builder in Ricks's shop too..he is just as excited to be building ukes as Rick..i was happy to meet him too!

we are so lucky to have Rick building ukes for us..right Gillian/Gary/Richard/Kelii only a few that i know.. Lol
anyway thanks in advance Rick..
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Kurt, for taking us along with you to Rick Turner's. Did you put in an order for one of his tenors?
Be sure to post a video of you playing with the Cloverdale Couple.
 
gyosh said:
Glad you had a great visit!

Isn't his personal player cool?! I like the Bob Hope/neck story. Boggles the mind to think what one of his ukes would sound like if he could build with no consideration for looks. I'm still not sure about Friday but I'll definitely PM you when I do know. Would love to meet up with you guys at Smiley's.

Waiting for the fretboard pic.

::stare::
Click to expand...


Hey Gary..

yahoo! you must to getting excited..hope you can bring it to my class when you ready to show it..
i can not wait to see how it sounds and looks..

take care happy turkey day to you and family..
 
hawaii 50 said:
Hey Gary..

yahoo! you must to getting excited..hope you can bring it to my class when you ready to show it..
i can not wait to see how it sounds and looks..

take care happy turkey day to you and family..
Click to expand...

I'll definitely bring it down Len . . . you might have to play it though. I haven't touched my uke for ages now. I'm determined to create some daily uke time in my schedule though.
 
So cool, I'd love to visit Rick's shop. Glad you had a great time. I had the chance to hang out with Rick a bit at the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz and a warmer and more gracious man one will not find. He handed me his personal ukulele to try, then when some old friends of his called him over he left it with me for a long time......only for a second did I fantasize about running out the back door with it....
 
Rick's the man. I know tone/sound is a personal preference, but his Uke's are one of if not the best sounding in my ears. It just rings and rings and has a bass to it that other traditional Ukes don't have. My wife describes Rick's Ukulele's as a "mystical" sound with amazing reverb that has so much depth. You won't be disappointed with one of his. And like the other posters said, you can pretty much see the passion spilling out of his soul when he talks about building instruments. You gotta love it.
 
I know..you really have to meet Rick.. to see what he is all about..i guess that is why alot of people call him a legend..
 
gyosh said:
I'll definitely bring it down Len . . . you might have to play it though. I haven't touched my uke for ages now. I'm determined to create some daily uke time in my schedule though.
Click to expand...


Gary..take your time as you might be getting busy these days..i will be in the area until close to the end of Jan..we got to let R(uke 42) and CJ try it to..got to show off great sounding ukes..but R can really play..not like me Lol

i get up every morning and practice for 1 hour before work..from 6 to 7 am then get out the door..feels good to practice this early my hands don't feel too old and my mind is clear..but when you see me play it doesn't show Haha
 
Last edited:
Cool thread. :)
 
Rick also did some work on one of the most famous guitars in the world Willie Nelson's "Trigger". God Bless he is making Ukes!!!
 
Newportlocal said:
Sounds like a great time.
Can't wait to see Gary's.
I see a Reunion blues gig bag in that pic too.
What? No update on mine.:( oh well....
Click to expand...
You didn't ask me to check on yours (g) But I did see a few others in the paint booth, and on the benches.

gyosh said:
Glad you had a great visit!

Isn't his personal player cool?! I like the Bob Hope/neck story. Boggles the mind to think what one of his ukes would sound like if he could build with no consideration for looks. I'm still not sure about Friday but I'll definitely PM you when I do know. Would love to meet up with you guys at Smiley's.

Waiting for the fretboard pic.

::stare::
Click to expand...
Here ya go!

gyosh2.jpg gyosh1.jpg

hawaii 50 said:
I knew you would appreciate Rick Turner..i spent an hour with him and enjoyed every second..he built me a Koa CR that is unreal..and I have a macassar ebony/sinker redwood CR on order..you can read all the stuff that Rick post on the UU..but until you meet him i dont think you can understand how much he loves doing what he does..i still say i wish i was him!..all the living he has done makes me jealous

you got to meet John the other builder in Ricks's shop too..he is just as excited to be building ukes as Rick..i was happy to meet him too!

we are so lucky to have Rick building ukes for us..right Gillian/Gary/Richard/Kelii only a few that i know.. Lol
anyway thanks in advance Rick..
Click to expand...
John was the other builder we met, although another gentleman was out in the shop sanding a neck when we arrived. The joy in working on the uke, and talking about the different woods used was evident.

I'm not even going to ask prices, I'm just going to start saving.

BTW, we talked about other builders (who shall remain nameless), and the respect he gives them is quite obvious. These people aren't in competition with each other, except to push excellence in the craft. When Rick said that he was planning on buying an instrument from one of the other luthiers in the near future, that is a sign of just how much he respects the other folks.

-Kurt​
 
Kurt, thanks for posting about your visit to Rick's studio. I had the pleasure of meeting Rick when I took his ukulele building class at The Crucible in Oakland this past spring. We were provided with the bended and sanded soundboard, sides and back for pineapple ukuleles and got to shape and sand the bracing and the necks, assemble all the pieces, and design our own headstocks. Rick has great enthusiasm for ukulele building and was generous with his time and experience. And he let us play a Compass Rose that he was planning to donate to a charity auction. Beautiful instrument, and it made me want to buy one of my own, for which I am currently saving. When I have more time after the new year, I'm going to ask Rick if I can visit his studio and talk with him about a custom build for me.

Gary, that's a hella yummy fretboard inlay!
 
ksiegel said:
You didn't ask me to check on yours (g) But I did see a few others in the paint booth, and on the benches.


Here ya go!

View attachment 45632 View attachment 45633


John was the other builder we met, although another gentleman was out in the shop sanding a neck when we arrived. The joy in working on the uke, and talking about the different woods used was evident.

I'm not even going to ask prices, I'm just going to start saving.

BTW, we talked about other builders (who shall remain nameless), and the respect he gives them is quite obvious. These people aren't in competition with each other, except to push excellence in the craft. When Rick said that he was planning on buying an instrument from one of the other luthiers in the near future, that is a sign of just how much he respects the other folks.

-Kurt​
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting the pic Kurt. . . . I had some errands to run and I was dying to get online to check it out:) I'll figure it out tonight if I can make it Friday. I'll PM you either way.

Thanks again,

-Gary
 
GAH!!!

Totally anxious to see how the finished uke looks and sounds now:iwant:
 
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