Sad update regarding passing of luthier/co-author of the Uke Book

Doc_J

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Just received this sad Kickstarter news in an update regarding the Uke Book.

"Dear Kickstarter Backers,

I am sad to announce that John Weissenrieder passed away last week. John had been fighting pancreatic cancer since he was diagnosed late fall 2015.

John was truly a master at his craft and he was determined to share his knowledge with luthiers and anyone wanting to gain insight into how a musical instrument is made. It was an honor to work one on one with John. He taught me how to see the details in the hand made, and to have the boldness and confidence to chisel, saw, and sand step by step toward beautiful results.

Because of the unpredicted circumstances, John and l were unable to meet our goal of printing the Uke Book within the time frame as we had planned. Though John won’t be able to hold a copy of the book in his hands, I know how happy it would have made him to complete this project.

Over the past couple of weeks John was working with printers close to his home in Italy to bring the Uke Book to paper. Because I live in NY, I’m not able to work with them, so I will be on the hunt for another printing service here in the US. If anyone knows of a good service, or even a publisher who would be interested in helping the Uke Book get into the hands of luthiers, ukulele lovers, instrument makers, artists and more, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

I want to thank everyone again for making this project come to life and to all of those who helped it through to this phase whether it was copy editing or moral support, it all counts! The status of the book thus far is that all 14 Chapters (249 pages) have been completed with illustrations and writing, it has been designed and laid out with Adobe inDesign, and has been copy edited. I will keep backers posted with the status of the project. Below I have attached a few sample pages from Chapter 12 Frets of the Uke Book and a link to view chapters 10-12. I am determined to have the book printed and I can not wait to see what beautiful instruments you will create with it!

Love to all of Johns family, friends and colleagues. Thank you all for your tremendous support and patience!

Sarah Greenbaum"
 
Hello Hodge,

Very sad news. First of course for John, but also for the premature end of an unrealized project. It was doubtless the sort of thing that would have benefitted the Ukulele community more than John himself.

Do you have a link to the sample chapter? Hopefully members can come up with ideas for bringing this work to light. If it's already in Adobe maybe just offer it as a download?
 
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That is sad news, I'm sorry to hear of the passing of your friend and fellow colleague, especially prematurely to the publication of the Uke Book.

In Appreciation of the Uke and the work that goes into them by such fine craftsmen, I'd also be interested for a copy in future after the work has all been finalised.

Regards and Condolences ...
 
Hello Hodge,

Very sad news. First of course for John, but also for the premature end of an unrealized project. It was doubtless the sort of thing that would have benefitted the Ukulele community more than John himself.

Do you have a link to the sample chapter? Hopefully members can come up with ideas for bringing this work to light. If it's already in Adobe maybe just offer it as a download?

Dirk,

I'm confident that the co-author Sarah will have the book published. The work is completed.

Here's the link she provided for chapters 10-12. It looks very informative with nice illustrations.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/55048629/The-Uke-Book-Chapter-10-12?
 
I'm so sorry to hear about the co-author John's passing. My condolences.

I had never heard about this project before, but now after looking at the chapter samples, I simply have to have a copy of this book. It looks extremely well done!

Hodge - thanks for sharing this information.

If you have any updates for when the book is available, in ANY form, please share them.

Mahalo :)
 
My condolences. I've attended to a few dying pancreatic cancer patients and when they go, it has been so rewarding to witness the peace that comes over the house. It is a very, very difficult disease to manage, and is always fatal. The pain is manageable, but it takes heavy doses of morphine to control it. I'm glad to hear John isn't suffering any longer.
I too would be interested in a copy of his book.
Godspeed to John....
 
I'm looking forward to adding John's legacy book to my ukulele library. Inspires me to get with it and pass some gem on to the future.
 
My deepest sympathies to John's family and loved ones.

I got curious and found the page for this book at kickstarter.com. The project was launched in 2014, and it appears to be too late to obtain a copy of the book through contributing to the kickstarter campaign. I hope that someone who has contributed to the project can keep this community posted on how else a copy of the book may be obtained once it's available in print form, or whether it will be made available in digital form.

I hope it isn't appropriate to post a link to the kickstarter project for this book here.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/608092588/the-ukebuke/description
 
Dirk,

I'm confident that the co-author Sarah will have the book published. The work is completed.

Here's the link she provided for chapters 10-12. It looks very informative with nice illustrations.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/55048629/The-Uke-Book-Chapter-10-12?

I just now got a chance to look through those illusrations. As Booli said, it is very nicely done. He doesn't go into as much detail in some areas as I would have, but a lot more detail in others. This is what can be so valuable about these projects, to see things from another perspective. Am looking forward to the offering. Thanks for the heads up!
 
Does anyone have more news on this book? I do understand the very sad passing of co-author John Weissenrieder caused a serious delay, but even since last summer not much news appeared. It has been available for pre-order on some outlets, but the publishing date has been pushed back again (in nov 2017 it was moved from dec 2017 to early 2020). The publishing house mentoined by retailers is Spring House Publishing, specialized in woodwording and crafts books, but the website of that publisher doesn't announce that book at all.

It still looks like a marvelous book, but the silence surrounding it is worrying...

The briefs:
- book launched as a kickstarting crowdfunding initiative in 2013-2014.
- succesfully obtained enough funding through presales of the book, of original postcards/drawings/watercolors/prints and of ukulele kits, with a promised delivery in April 2014.
- initial delay was blamed on the overwhelming demand, more or less doubling the production numbers of the extra bits, and the name changed in June 2014 from The Ukebuke to The Uke Book. By then the texts were finished, and 80% of the sketch work was done.
- in July 2015 John fell seriously ill, putting a delay on the whole project due to frequent hospitalisations.
- nonetheless the contents were done by that time, the lay-out and design was finished by May 2016, counting 246 pages, but still requiring final editing and printing.
- kits and drawings/watercolors/prints were ready for shipment in July 2016 (but not sent out, still waiting on the printing of the actual book).
- John passed away in July 2017.
 
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