Help vintage ukulele

wonderful! Thank you for posting this!
 
Pretty cool. Astonishing that John King's thumb could move that fast and play that accurately. Thanks hmgberg for posting all of that fascinating history. Really interesting.

The Eddy Finn Peanut Soprano vaguely reminds me of the Machete. But no real comparison.
 
That is a beautiful instrument for certain. Looks like others have already gone down the same rabbit hole that I did looking for something similar, dreaming that perhaps I too might be blessed with such an amazing inheritance. Here is a Portuguese Machete played for some comparison. Just beautiful. Thank you for the pictures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDyrS9ZQMHU
 
Hi Phil,

I saw your post and thought I'd write. I own an ukulele store here in Hawaii and we specialize in the sale of custom ukuleles and vintage ukuleles. My web page is ukulelefriend.com. I am working on a very unique project in which I record historical ukuleles for the purpose of educating the public, (general ukulele lover, musicians who may not have experienced the joy of playing such historical instruments, and the contemporary builders who can also benefit from learning and seeing such historical pieces). I do this through various in person workshops utilizing historical ukuleles and also like discussing the parent instruments such as this machete and rajao in to my presentations as well. I also enjoy taking these unique instruments in to studio and recording them for archive purposes so that people throughout the world can hear them and learn more about the ukulele and its history.

I am not frequently on the UU forum but just popped in today and saw your post. I'd like to discuss with you more on this, if possible. I have a number of historical ukulele that we use for educational purposes that are not for sale and only for education to the advancement of the ukulele, it's history, and the sound of each instrument.

Please email me directly at syacavone@gmail.com at your convenience.

kind regards,
Shawn Y.
 
Wow - it is a pretty amazing little piece of history! Is there a family story that goes along with the machete? A relative from Portugal who collected folk art? A musician who played other stringed instruments? A woodworker from Madera who moved to Hawaii? Even the case is wonderful.

The machete is not a folk instrument. It has a classical repertoire. It is wonderful! :)
 
That is a beautiful instrument for certain. Looks like others have already gone down the same rabbit hole that I did looking for something similar, dreaming that perhaps I too might be blessed with such an amazing inheritance. Here is a Portuguese Machete played for some comparison. Just beautiful. Thank you for the pictures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDyrS9ZQMHU

It's a bit sad to see a machete de Madeira being played like a ukulele. The correct tuning for the machete is DGBD. There are several 19th century composers from Madeira, including Candido Drumond, who wrote beautiful pieces for the machete (often with guitar accompaniments).
 
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