Does anybody know of any ukulele luthiers in Mexico?
I'm going to head to Mexico City and the surrounding states in a few months.
I'm aware that there are many excellent guitar makers in Mexico, or at least in the Mexican city of Paracho. But I was wondering if there are any uke makers as well. Does anybody know of any?
I had a baritone ukulele (lili'u six string) made in Tijuana by Luis Sevillano a few months back, and am very happy with it. He has made ukuleles in the past, and so I got to take a look at a little concert size he made before ordering my baritone. Tijuana is much closer to San Diego and Los Angeles than Mexico City, though, and there are plenty of good luthiers in central Mexico, so he is likely not a good match for you.
I noticed that the ukuleles built by Mr. Sevillano were a little heavier than a normal ukulele, although they had plenty of volume, so that really is not a problem, as far as I am concerned. With the variety of small traditional Mexican instrument related to the guitar (jarana jarocha, in four sizes, the jarana huasteca, the vihuela, the guitarra de golpe) it should not be hard to find a good luthier who has recently made, if not a ukulele, then a close cousin of the ukulele, in about the same size, in the recent past.
Also, you may want to take advantage of the opportunity and have something built that is a little different-I had a six string baritone made, and am thinking about getting a guitarra de golpe to use as a nylon string tenor guitar with Southcoast strings (same 23 inch scale as a tenor guitar).
You could also get a bandola, or a cuatro, or a Cuban tresillo, or a jarana jarocho, and string it up as a ukulele, there are just a lot of interesting options at a relatively low price.
I can't speak to any tendency of Mexican guitars to crack in cold weather; I have mine safely at home in Tijuana, and have no plans to take mine further north than San Diego. Maybe a case humidifier would solve the issue?