Happy new year, everyone! This will be a very special NUD post for me, so strap yourselves in.
In March 2020, I commissioned a custom soprano ukulele from a local Luthier here in Helsinki, Lottonen Guitars (http://lottonen.com/laulu-ukuleles/). Juha Lottonen is an excellent luthier, praised multiple times by Pete Howlett among others, and an extremely nice fellow with whom I always chat endlessly about ukuleles whenever I visit. While he makes ukes and guitars out of typical woods like koa or mahogany his shtick is to make instruments out of locally sourced alder which is not only a quality tonewood but also very ecological. A uke made out of local woods really appealed to me so commissioning one was a given. The initial schedule for completion was around Autumn but unfortunately delivery issues with certain supplies meant that completion would be delayed. Then a couple of days ago I got a message saying the uke was completed and I would be able to go get it on the very last day of the year, and so I did...
I think it's absolutely stunning. I asked for a sort of vintage look (black nut and saddle, dark front binding, simple soundhole rosette) and some nice flaming alder which I knew Juha had, and I could not be happier with the result. As you can see from the photos, Juha has taken inspiration from old Gibson ukuleles with the shape of the headstock and the end of the fretboard. The nut and saddle are buffalo bone, and the fretboard and bridge are made out of elm, another locally sourced wood. I think the whole thing just looks incredibly classy, and the nice flaming just adds on top of that. I specifically wanted it fitted with Graphtech ratio tuners because they give the tuning posts that vintage matte look like with an old wooden peg instead of the metallic tuning posts on most friction pegs or Gotoh planetary tuners (both of which were also an option). I don't like the bulkiness of the tuners on the back of the headstock but otherwise I'm happy with how they look and function. I've heard they are known to break occasionally but they are cheap and easily replaceable. The name "Laulu", which is Finnish, translates to "Song", as in someone singing.
The playability of this thing is incredible. It is light as a feather, probably the lightest uke I own, and perfectly balanced. The neck shape is quite rounded and doesn't have that flat point so many desire but it's still narrow and comfortable. Action is very low making it easy to play. The only thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the frets that are a bit taller than what I'm used to on sopranos.
The tone really surprised me. Alder is typically a fairly bright sounding wood and it definitely has some of that but there's still plenty of nice warmth too. It's not easy to describe but I'd say it's somewhat comparable to mahogany and koa. It's not quite as warm and jangly as mahogany but there's definitely some of that. The brightness and punchiness reminds me of koa but on the other hand it lacks a bit of that koa spark and sweetness. In any case, the tone is extremely suitable for a soprano body and definitely the kind I prefer on a soprano. Here's a quick audio sample:
https://soundcloud.com/user-628658662/laulu-ukulele/s-gBdgqBxAsUK
I think it's fair to say I'm extremely happy with how this uke turned out, and I'm really grateful for Juha Lottonen for making such a wonderful instrument for me. This will be my most treasured uke for sure. I will now begin my inevitable quest for trying different strings on it.
In March 2020, I commissioned a custom soprano ukulele from a local Luthier here in Helsinki, Lottonen Guitars (http://lottonen.com/laulu-ukuleles/). Juha Lottonen is an excellent luthier, praised multiple times by Pete Howlett among others, and an extremely nice fellow with whom I always chat endlessly about ukuleles whenever I visit. While he makes ukes and guitars out of typical woods like koa or mahogany his shtick is to make instruments out of locally sourced alder which is not only a quality tonewood but also very ecological. A uke made out of local woods really appealed to me so commissioning one was a given. The initial schedule for completion was around Autumn but unfortunately delivery issues with certain supplies meant that completion would be delayed. Then a couple of days ago I got a message saying the uke was completed and I would be able to go get it on the very last day of the year, and so I did...
I think it's absolutely stunning. I asked for a sort of vintage look (black nut and saddle, dark front binding, simple soundhole rosette) and some nice flaming alder which I knew Juha had, and I could not be happier with the result. As you can see from the photos, Juha has taken inspiration from old Gibson ukuleles with the shape of the headstock and the end of the fretboard. The nut and saddle are buffalo bone, and the fretboard and bridge are made out of elm, another locally sourced wood. I think the whole thing just looks incredibly classy, and the nice flaming just adds on top of that. I specifically wanted it fitted with Graphtech ratio tuners because they give the tuning posts that vintage matte look like with an old wooden peg instead of the metallic tuning posts on most friction pegs or Gotoh planetary tuners (both of which were also an option). I don't like the bulkiness of the tuners on the back of the headstock but otherwise I'm happy with how they look and function. I've heard they are known to break occasionally but they are cheap and easily replaceable. The name "Laulu", which is Finnish, translates to "Song", as in someone singing.
The playability of this thing is incredible. It is light as a feather, probably the lightest uke I own, and perfectly balanced. The neck shape is quite rounded and doesn't have that flat point so many desire but it's still narrow and comfortable. Action is very low making it easy to play. The only thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the frets that are a bit taller than what I'm used to on sopranos.
The tone really surprised me. Alder is typically a fairly bright sounding wood and it definitely has some of that but there's still plenty of nice warmth too. It's not easy to describe but I'd say it's somewhat comparable to mahogany and koa. It's not quite as warm and jangly as mahogany but there's definitely some of that. The brightness and punchiness reminds me of koa but on the other hand it lacks a bit of that koa spark and sweetness. In any case, the tone is extremely suitable for a soprano body and definitely the kind I prefer on a soprano. Here's a quick audio sample:
https://soundcloud.com/user-628658662/laulu-ukulele/s-gBdgqBxAsUK
I think it's fair to say I'm extremely happy with how this uke turned out, and I'm really grateful for Juha Lottonen for making such a wonderful instrument for me. This will be my most treasured uke for sure. I will now begin my inevitable quest for trying different strings on it.
