Vintage Birthday Surprise

jwieties

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Came home from work to find a package at my door. I have a dear friend who always goes overboard for my birthday. When I saw the return address name on the box I immediately knew that she had outdone herself this time. Prior to becoming a uke fanatic, I was crazy about all things acoustic blues. My favorite guitars were the prewar Gibsons and Stella's. I few months ago, Stella historian/aficionado Neal Harpe, posted this little beauty.
1251.jpg
It represents everything I love about those old vintage Stella guitars. I looked at it often and once posted a link to it here. Dreamed about it and really considered buying it, but resisted. Looking at the box on my dining room table, I knew this little uke, in all its mother of toilet seat and gold glitter perfling glory, was sitting inside that box. This uke is amazing. It's a very rare Sovereign soprano uke. All solid birch. MOTS headstock and fingerboard overlay, gold glitter purling with pearloid bindings. It needs a small amount of work to become an amazing player. At the moment the action is pretty high, but I'll get that taken care of soon. Still an absolute thrill to play nearly a 100 year old instrument that is in such amazing condition.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU my dear Lodes!!! I'm so blessed to have you as a friend. Your thoughtfulness and generosity is astounding.

Here's a quick and dirty one take of Railroad Bill from Aaron's new fingerstyle book. Because the action is a little high, I tuned it down a 1/2 step to increase playability and improve the intonation a bit.


https://vimeo.com/82255395
 
Beautiful!!! What a great friend. A very cool vintage uke, I am not familiar with those, thanks for sharing.
 
Just a few things: congratulations on the beautiful uke; happy birthday; please introduce me to your friend.
 
That MOTS comment made me laugh out loud.

Now you are gonna have to really push the boat out for Lodes bday!
 
what a friend! Happy birthday and enjoy!
 
A special friend! A special uke! And Happy Birthday!

Congrats on that MOTS beauty! Thanks for letting us listen in!
 
Wow, :drool: read: envy. Sweet, huge sound. Congrats. I think we'd all like a friend like that.
 
Wonderful little uke, nice playing of a great song AND WHAT A NICE FRIEND YOU HAVE!! Cherish them!
 
very cool, congrats. and HBD. I had a Stella tenor guitar. Stella made some very cool instruments.
 
Thanks guys!!! No doubt an amazing friend. While the uke really has nothing to do with how great Lodes is, I will treasure this instrument and look forward to putting another 40 - 50 years on it.
 
Beautiful!!! What a great friend. A very cool vintage uke, I am not familiar with those, thanks for sharing.

I've seen a few Sovereign banjo-ukes, but never a wood one. I have to assume they are extremely rare. They were class instruments and the Sovereign guitars are highly valued. Here's the uke's big 6-string brother, with a little history on the "Sovereign" company.
http://www.retrofret.com/products.asp?ProductID=3568
 
Congratulations and what a great friend you have, so thoughtful and generous....what a score on both...it is beautiful and I am sure too...you have some major paybacks to give her..
believe me.... dinner wont be enough... :)
 
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Josh,

Way way cool! I too looked at that uke many times and seriously contemplated buying it, but just didn't. Good for you, it is a really classy instrument from days gone by when class and character were the norm. By the way, what fingerstyle book are you referring to by Aaron? Here is a pic of a Sovereign I once owned.


 
Josh,

Way way cool! I too looked at that uke many times and seriously contemplated buying it, but just didn't. Good for you, it is a really classy instrument from days gone by when class and character were the norm. By the way, what fingerstyle book are you referring to by Aaron? Here is a pic of a Sovereign I once owned.

Oh man that is a beauty! Looks familiar. Did you used to participate on Little Brother's forum?

It's from Aaron Keim's (The Quiet American) new book. It is excellent!
http://quietamericanmusic.com/storestore/fingerstyle-ukulele-instruction-book-1
 
Josh, Yup, good memory, Little Brother's forum is indeed correct - small world isn't it? Thanks for the book link - looks good. And again, very cool uke there - my cup of tea for sure.
 
Congrats! What a precious uke and precious friendship!
 
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