Compass Rose and Bob Hope

Stevelele

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Someone on ebay is selling a compass rose with a mahogany neck that was supposedly made from salvaged parts of Bob Hope's pool bar. The ad says that only three will be made.

It's kind of cool to have a story attached to your uke, but just wondering what people think of this. Cool? Irrelevant? Don't know who Bob Hope is? ;)

I guess I think it's kind of cool, but it wouldn't be enough to make me want to buy it. I'd be much more inclined to buy it if I knew Rick had built the whole thing himself! I know he has great luthiers, but he's still the man
 
Ricks main personal uke has a Bob Hope Bar Neck. Played it at NAMM.
I think it is just fun to say, just like one of my ukes has wood that is over 100 years old and reclaimed from a factory that made cast iron parts. (It was the big stamp that made the mold in the sand)
 
I think it's cool. For me, having a story and knowledge about the uke beyond just what I get from picking it up in the store "connects" me with it a little more than the latter. Besides, I think its fun to tell others an interesting tidbit about my instrument when they ask or comment about it. I was fortunate enough to pick up a CR from Gryphon that has a top made from a Giant Sequoia that fell on the UC Berkeley campus here in the Bay area and I really enjoy the fact that as long as I have it, I'll get to carry a "piece" of the Bay Area wherever I go. Finally, I can be really fickle and indecisive with my instruments, so having a back story helps to give me more of a reason to stave off my "the grass is always greener" mentality. :D
 
Story is cool if the price is right...I wouldn't pay an extra bill or two for a story just like I wouldn't pay more if Jake signs a uke. Now if it was Jake's or Bob's personal custom uke, then I would pay a premium.
 
I think the Bob Hope connection is interesting, but I wouldn't pay more for it. Now, if golf clubs had been made from some of that wood, then you might have more of a collector's interest since his humor often included that subject. I don't associate Bob Hope with ukes much, but maybe he played one in one of those movies with Bing Crosby.

–Lori
 
I would pay more if it were made out of Abe Lincoln's log cabin

Story is cool if the price is right...I wouldn't pay an extra bill or two for a story just like I wouldn't pay more if Jake signs a uke. Now if it was Jake's or Bob's personal custom uke, then I would pay a premium.
 
I think it's cool and adds a fun element to the uke.

I thought I read about someone making ukes with a no-longer-available-wood (Redwood maybe?) that had been part of an out of the way fence at Stanford for many decades, literally seasoned in the california sun for decades. :)
 
Wood is wood. Whether a uke neck came from a run of the mill tree or was part of demolition of the rails from the gunfight at the OK corral doesn't make any difference in the real world.

Reminds me of the value attribited to collectibles that become collectable simply because somebody decided they should be collectable; typically the person making that decision is the one destined to profit from the designation.

Quite frankly, I'd rather have Bob Hope's bar intact. Now that would be a collectible with a story behind it. Now that I think about it, having the OK corral surrounding my front yard would be pretty cool.
 
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I kind of agree that the Bob Hope angle is cool but probably not worth the extra hundreds of dollars the seller seems to want for it. While the neck is obviously an important part of an ukulele, I'd be more interested in there being a story behind the soundboard. That being said, I kinda want a sprucetop/rosewood Compass Rose, as it seems to be Rick's favorite tonewood combination.
 
I kind of agree that the Bob Hope angle is cool but probably not worth the extra hundreds of dollars the seller seems to want for it. While the neck is obviously an important part of an ukulele, I'd be more interested in there being a story behind the soundboard. That being said, I kinda want a sprucetop/rosewood Compass Rose, as it seems to be Rick's favorite tonewood combination.

As long as it's a spec uke...It seems like it takes forever for the custom ones!
 
You know it's funny--I actually found that very wood he's using from a guy in Alaska and know the whole story behind it. I was going to buy a set for myself to use on a custom, but I figured that the color would kind of be hard to match. Maybe it would look cool with African Blackwood or Macassar Ebony, but I don't think it looks right with anything else. I have heard some sound samples--can't really tell from them whether they stand out or not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9aprSehGuY

Did you see the 3000 year old spruce top on a uke from Barron River Ukuleles?
http://www.brguitars.com/

Now that is what I want. Very cool.

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You know it's funny--I actually found that very wood he's using from a guy in Alaska and know the whole story behind it. I was going to buy a set for myself to use on a custom, but I figured that the color would kind of be hard to match. Maybe it would look cool with African Blackwood or Macassar Ebony, but I don't think it looks right with anything else. I have heard some sound samples--can't really tell from them whether they stand out or not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9aprSehGuY

I asked Allen about the sound of the ancient spruce. He indicated that it sounds like spruce, with a lot depending on the bracing and strings.
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?79753-Babinga-and-Ancient-Spruce-Tenor
 
I think it's cool. For me, having a story and knowledge about the uke beyond just what I get from picking it up in the store "connects" me with it a little more than the latter. Besides, I think its fun to tell others an interesting tidbit about my instrument when they ask or comment about it. I was fortunate enough to pick up a CR from Gryphon that has a top made from a Giant Sequoia that fell on the UC Berkeley campus here in the Bay area and I really enjoy the fact that as long as I have it, I'll get to carry a "piece" of the Bay Area wherever I go. Finally, I can be really fickle and indecisive with my instruments, so having a back story helps to give me more of a reason to stave off my "the grass is always greener" mentality. :D

I would like a clarification. When Rick was telling me about this sequoia, I thought it was from land owned by UC-Berkeley in the Sierras, not from the Berkeley campus. The University owns land in the Sierras for environmental research.

If the wood DID come from a tree on the Berkeley campus, then my Compass Rose, like Remy's, will be even more special to me. My daughter is a Cal grad and my husband and I are big Cal supporters...GO BEARS!
 
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My wife bought me a Compass Rose from MGM in 2007 (I think) for my birthday. It has the Hope-neck. It is the twin to Rick's Hope-neck koa that was seen with him previously in some years' NAMM footage. It is a fantastic uke. And it is nice to have a little story. It isn't something I have tell everyone, but having the story of the neck, and the beauty in the wood, makes a nice package with the extraordinary build quality and sound.
I know it wasn't a custom made uke for ME, per se, but I also get a kick out of having one that is the twin to Rick's.
It makes me less than 6-degrees from Rick Turner. :D
 
I made the neck of a uke from piece of walnut that my dad harvested. I found it in his wood shop after he died. So that is worth a lot to me. But Bob Hope's bar? means little to me.

My wife had knee replacement surgery and I offered to make a saddle out of her "discarded" knee bone, but she was not interested.
 
Rumour has it that Bing Crosby peed on the mahogany tree that my Compass Rose was made from while he was filming one of those "Road" movies with Bob Hope. When it's very humid here in New Jersey, you can still kinda smell a funky odor if you stick your nose in the soundhole.

The story? Pure BS.

The uke? Priceless!

Cheers!
 
I would like a clarification. When Rick was telling me about this sequoia, I thought it was from land owned by UC-Berkeley in the Sierras, not from the Berkeley campus. The University owns land in the Sierras for environmental research.

If the wood DID come from a tree on the Berkeley campus, then my Compass Rose, like Remy's, will be even more special to me. My daughter is a Cal grad and my husband and I are big Cal supporters...GO BEARS!

Ahhh, maybe I'm mistaken! Here's the story from the Gryphon website:

http://www.gryphonstrings.com/instpix/40703/index.php?z=y

Guess I'll just be taking a piece of California with me when I leave. That's OK too, I still have a story! :eek:

That's what I get for assuming...truthfully, I didn't even know they owned land in the Sierras! Thanks for the additional information Gillian!
 
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