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Yes. The mail has gotten slow in some areas since cuts were made last summer. First class letters that took 1-2 days now take 12 or more days. News reported it will take into February to clear the...

Maybe that Martin was in a flood, or a very damp basement for a time. That would explain the swelling.

I bet the neck has a twist in it too. Anybody who plans on using that for anything other...

Over the years if given a choice I would select a radiused fretboard over flat.

Now, in my hopefully last custom, the time has come to chose radius or flat freboard. And I was a bit indecisive....

You can have signature required packages from FedEx and UPS held for convenient pick up.
Insured Mailed packages sent the Post Office should also be held for signature.

Consider taking off the strings and using a little 0000 steel wool with lemon oil on the frets and fretboard.
I’m always amazed how great an old fretboard will look after a little TLC.

Dave Newton, a luthier in Beaumont, TX used to build Primitive Style Mahagony Sopranos. Check with him.

He used Rosewood violin friction tuning pegs, fretted on the neck instead of using a fret...

Truly an amazing instrument. Congratulations to Len and Beau.

Beau your skill and artistry continually advance. Thanks for pictures.

Welcome to UU Coconut Joe !

Lots of different hardwoods are used as fret boards on ukes. The harder the wood is the more wear resistant it likely is. Koa, walnut, Myrtle, maple and many other...

Living Water Strings has a reentrant dGBE (high d) set for tenors.

Takamine made a really nice sounding mahogany laminate tenor. I have one, now on loan to a friend.

I wouldn’t say baritones are disliked, they just have a smaller following. Tenor size is the most popular size. Baritones have the smallest following. Currently, I play baritones more often than...

My spell checker is annoyingly aggressive. Sorry, That should have been Poplar not polar.

Won’t you also need a fretting jaw jig, fret nippers, leveling file, beveling file, recrown file, fret...

Well, the fastest build would be to buy the neck and license plate box from MBG. Might as well get the bridge and tailpiece there too. You could have the whole thing together very quickly.

But if...

Good work Dohle. Making saddles and nuts will get better with practice. Over the last 10 years I have made a couple nuts and saddles myself. The first was the worst. After that my results got more...

If the planetary geared tuners are “slipping” on a new uke, contact the store where you bought it.
They might know what the issue is. If they can’t help , then contact Risa.

+1 on Living Water strings!

Have Living water strings on a MP walnut baritone that work well on it.

That’s the point. Some ukes don’t obviously sound out of tune, even if not perfectly tuned. While other ukes only sound decent if perfectly tuned.

Yes, my hearing does vary. After a long day I...

Maybe I should clarify a little what I was trying to say.

To my ears some ukes don’t sound good to me unless they are perfectly as possible in tune. One string off just a little off ( say 1-2...

Has anyone else ever noticed that a great sounding uke will still sound pretty great even when a string or two was out of tune ( a little)?
And, some other ukes sound terrible if just one string is...

Mango can look and sound as good as any tone wood.
Here’s a curly mango tenor I play.
https://live.staticflickr.com/4770/26195449638_f93c85bb11_c.jpgP1080733 by hejenkins,

Here’s an Iiwi mango...

Play more frequently but in short sessions. Keep playing. Don’t press too hard, lower the action to help.

Thanks for a cool comparison. I checked and I got them all wrong. Every single one I guessed was wrong. Now I’m sure my ears are shot.

Actually I think this is a great demonstration of how...

I agree with Dave. In general a Spruce top with dense hard wood back & sides. Variation on the type Spruce are interesting Eastern Red, Sitka, Carpathian, ...

A few luthiers I know prefer a...

Update:

Still in the queue for both of these special ukes. Neither will be completed in 2020, but fairly certain 2021 will be the year I play them.

Pat Megowan has kindly sent a stream of...

Gotoh UPT tuners certainly give a good hold, easier tuning, and a good look. But, I’ve always found their spindles a little narrow and short for winding stretchy strings. I suppose they work best on...