Hand made (by me) ukuleles

jupiteruke

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Apr 15, 2015
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Location
Eastern Pennsylvania / Jupiter Florida
I am a small builder, who has been at ukulele building for a couple of years now. I have worked very hard to make an instrument which both looks wonderful, as well as sounds great. I am in Eastern Pennsylvania, and have been using local woods almost exclusively. Many of my back and sides started with me, a tree, and a chain saw. Sycamore is wonderful, but it has to be cut just right, which requires treating each cut in a special way. (My sycamore is better than almost anything one could buy.) My favorite top wood is redwood recycled from old water tanks that used to be on the top of apartment buildings in New York City. I currently have a number of instruments for sale, ranging in price from $500 to $700 These can be seen on my web site (recently edited) "jupiteruke dot com", as well as an activity blog, some testimonials, sound samples, some other instruments, some examples of custom pearl inlay, etc.

I love wood and have come to really like building instruments. There is always something new to try, some lovely piece of wood that I have come across/harvested, some way that I can make things better. (My overall goal is to make every instrument better than the last one.) I am retired from my 'day job', and I do not have to build/sell ukuleles to put food on the table, which gives me a great deal of freedom. I mostly sell them to support building the next ones, tools, and my wife does not think we need to have 10 or 12 ukuleles around the house.
- Jonathan Dale
 

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Beautiful ukuleles with a wonderful story. I enjoyed your blog.
 
Gorgeous!
I love the minimal headstock.
 
Very nice! I was really glad to see that the "Australian Pine" has a beautiful use! The trees are all over here. The heartwood is a very nice red color. I praise you for being eco-friendly. I love the headstock design, it's different.
I really wish I could afford one of your ukes.
Great website too. Here's the link to make it easier to find: http://jupiteruke.com/
Best wishes with your projects!
 
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"Austrailian pine", (Casuarina equisetifolia and Casuarina glauca) is my new favorite wood. It has a reputation for twisting and cracking when it dries so there is no commercial harvesting, you can not buy it (advantage me - makes the instruments really unique). Most trees grow with a spiral grain, and I can see how cutting these into lumber would give all sorts of problems, but I have been able to cut smaller, perfectly quarter-sawn blocks from trees which show a straighter grain and have had little problems. It is as hard as ebony, heavy (sinks even when dry), small pored, takes a wonderful polish all by itself, has a lovely color, a nice contrast between heart wood and sap wood, and I am cutting what is considered an invasive species in Florida. A great combination of 'features'.
 
Your art and work is incredible. Interesting you are using the Australian Pine. You are correct they were planted extensively in Central South Florida as wind breaks for citrus and crops. I notice only the first uke page has a price, do we contact you for the others? Interested in Tenor Low G.

ALSO::::::: What song is he playing at the end of the Glen Hirabayashi sound sample? It is in my head but I cannot remember the name/band.

Best regards.
 
Nice looking and sounding ukes!
The song played by Glen is Breezin' a George Benson song.
 
Yes, please contact me, "jupiteruke at gmail dot com" for prices on particular instruments. Prices range from $550 to $800. I used to post prices on the web site (missed one) but I have found that this just created complications when dealing with consignments at stores, and also did not allow easy discounting on older instruments that have been in the inventory for a while.

I generally string all the tenors I make with a low-G as I like that fuller and 'rounder' sound. Indeed, my build processes have been oriented to trying to get that deeper, richer sound, with a good volume. A redwood top is wonderful for a low-G tenor. You may note that I use a zero fret. One advantage of this is that one can go from low-G to high-G strings and no filing of the nut or nut replacement is required. Just change the strings.

I have 4 more tenors 'on the bench' right now, with expected completion some time in January. I'm going to post a progress update to my blog this evening.
 
Brian Griffin of Griffin ukes also uses the old redwood water tank wood from New York. It's an amazing soundboard wood. Sounds like the two of you are oriented towards the same goal in your builds.
http://www.griffinukuleles.com He keeps a great blog.

Really nice instruments Jupiter. Definitely a site I have earmarked for a future build or buy.
 
Nice ukulele. I like your site. Rey interested inyournuse of local wood. I have to rad more carefully, your blog on veneer. Whe Infirst looked I was thing commercial laminate. But it appears you use all solid wood and to the n
Veneer yourself. Good for you. I also like the idea of Alaska PIne neck. I will read more and contact you. Thanks for posting.
 
"Austrailian pine", (Casuarina equisetifolia and Casuarina glauca) is my new favorite wood. It has a reputation for twisting and cracking when it dries so there is no commercial harvesting, you can not buy it (advantage me - makes the instruments really unique). Most trees grow with a spiral grain, and I can see how cutting these into lumber would give all sorts of problems, but I have been able to cut smaller, perfectly quarter-sawn blocks from trees which show a straighter grain and have had little problems. It is as hard as ebony, heavy (sinks even when dry), small pored, takes a wonderful polish all by itself, has a lovely color, a nice contrast between heart wood and sap wood, and I am cutting what is considered an invasive species in Florida. A great combination of 'features'.

Interesting. We call it she-oak in Australia.
 
Glad to see you on UU. I had googled upon the website several times and definitely like the look of the casuarina.
 
Very, very nice! I'm very impressed with your use of locally harvested, non-traditional woods. As an Eastern Pennsylvanian, I'm definitely interested in your instruments and hope to deal with you at some time in the future, possibly for a custom build (once my finances are back on track!).
 
Also an eastern Pennsylvanian... does Jupiter Ukes have a showroom? My ukulele budget is exhausted at the moment, but I'd love to meet some of these instruments in person!
 
What fun to see your craftsmanship.
Can I just be sacrilegious and say that I felt myself wanting to learn the banjo just to have one of those spectacular instruments!
What would it take to get a good sounding banjo uke with those kinds of appointments...?
 
What fun to see your craftsmanship.
Can I just be sacrilegious and say that I felt myself wanting to learn the banjo just to have one of those spectacular instruments!
What would it take to get a good sounding banjo uke with those kinds of appointments...?

I have never heard a banjo uke that I liked, sound wise, so not much inspiration to learn to build them. This from a guy whose primary instrument is the banjo.
 
Brian Griffin of Griffin ukes also uses the old redwood water tank wood from New York. It's an amazing soundboard wood. Sounds like the two of you are oriented towards the same goal in your builds.
http://www.griffinukuleles.com He keeps a great blog.

Really nice instruments Jupiter. Definitely a site I have earmarked for a future build or buy.

Brian Griffin is a good friend. We met over redwood. He got his redwood from me.
 
Also an eastern Pennsylvanian... does Jupiter Ukes have a showroom? My ukulele budget is exhausted at the moment, but I'd love to meet some of these instruments in person!

I do not have a showroom, but you are welcome to come by the house, hang out in the shop, and play whatever instruments are around.
 
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