Gracie Ukulele. Anybody ever heard of this ukulele?

pdxbmw

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I found this at a local used music shop, I could tell the ukule had good bones, but sounded tight from lack of playing. Guitar is my instrument, but the uke had been intriguing to me and I felt this one could be a good one to start on.

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I always love these threads about lesser known/part-time luthiers. In addition to a few Fred Shields ukuleles, I have a couple from Keith Ogata and one from John Fitzgerald. I really like tracking down the off-the-beaten path builders. I don't know anything about Lyle Crawford and his instruments beyond what is on the web. As far as I can tell he is in Gresham, Oregon. You might be able to contact him if he is around.

There are a lot of small builders out there. Generally, I have found their instruments to be of good quality at a reasonable price. I suspect that he may be like others, including John Fitzgerald, that have no websites and just build on spec or commission by word of mouth. The uke I got from John is very nice, especially since I tuned it down. It was the first ukulele he built. It looks like you found a very nice ukulele that no one else, or few, may have. Very cool.

John
 
Looks like cedar and mahogany (seems a little light for rosewood), and is just a beautifully crafted instrument. That purfling and rosette are beautiful!

I would think that a 2008 would have opened up; the ukulele is braced rather aggressively, at least on the back. If the top is braced as “heavily” as the back, that could impact the instrument’s ability to resonate.

However, if you like the ukulele and how it sounds (even if not “open”), and it is priced right, you won’t find another one of these in a used store.

I was trying to do some research on the ukulele and the luthier, but “Grace” is taken over by Grace VanderWaal with any ukulele search, and I am not finding anything with L. Crawford and “ukulele” or “luthier.”

There are at least 53 other instruments made by L. Crawford (the only L. Crawford Luthier I could find listed was Lynn Crawford at Silkie Strings, and there didn’t seem to be any website for them).

So...as you originally asked, perhaps someone knows more about this ukulele. The Internet didn’t help me today.
 
I would think that a 2008 would have opened up; the ukulele is braced rather aggressively, at least on the back. If the top is braced as “heavily” as the back, that could impact the instrument’s ability to resonate.

This last week or two has really helped with the sound on this thing. I don't think it was really played much in the last 10 years and with it being solid wood, I believe it fell asleep. I took it out to the beach and played it daily, let it dry out a little with central heating and brought it back to Portland where the humidity is around 30 at the moment. The low humidity and playing it has woken it up. When I found it at the music shop, it sounded terrible. Even the cheap laminate ukuleles sounded way better, but I figured it just needed some time and some drying out to get it to sound good.
 
I've found a guitar or two under the same label and maker, so probably the brand.
 
I'm glad you bought it. I couldn't have stood the suspense, otherwise. Gracie used to be a very popular name....I think a lot of kids are gonna be named Grace now, after Grace V....stuff happens.
 
I was trying to do some research on the ukulele and the luthier, but “Grace” is taken over by Grace VanderWaal with any ukulele search, and I am not finding anything with L. Crawford and “ukulele” or “luthier.”
Just FYI, if you put a minus sign in front of a search word, it will leave out hits that match that. So,if I google for "grace ukulele crawford -vanderwaal" I get pretty much the results janeray1940 reported on the first page.
 
I was just at music shop in Oregon City (Wally's). They have 3 Grace Uke's and they all sound and look beautiful. They're all around $400-450. They told me those are all hand made in Gresham by that L Crawford fella. They all have a similar sticker inside but with different years. I was really tempted to buy one.
 
Looks like cedar and mahogany (seems a little light for rosewood), and is just a beautifully crafted instrument. That purfling and rosette are beautiful!

I would think that a 2008 would have opened up; the ukulele is braced rather aggressively, at least on the back. If the top is braced as “heavily” as the back, that could impact the instrument’s ability to resonate.

However, if you like the ukulele and how it sounds (even if not “open”), and it is priced right, you won’t find another one of these in a used store.

I was trying to do some research on the ukulele and the luthier, but “Grace” is taken over by Grace VanderWaal with any ukulele search, and I am not finding anything with L. Crawford and “ukulele” or “luthier.”

There are at least 53 other instruments made by L. Crawford (the only L. Crawford Luthier I could find listed was Lynn Crawford at Silkie Strings, and there didn’t seem to be any website for them).

So...as you originally asked, perhaps someone knows more about this ukulele. The Internet didn’t help me today.
That looks more like spruce to m
 
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