A traditional mastergrade koa tenor...

I'm not aiming to be popular and it's not snobbery. There is, in the music business, a lot of flummery. I tend not to talk up what I do and just do it. You'd think after 400 ukulele I'd know what I was doing but hey, it appears not? Oh well; each to his own. At least I don't have to get personal to put my point across, that is supposing I'm allowed a position that isn't with everyones else....:nana:

I've posted a few more vids on Youtube and am processing the requested tutorial.

Pete Howlett said:

I'm not aiming to be popular and it's not snobbery. There is, in the music business, a lot of flummery. I tend not to talk up what I do and just do it. You'd think after 400 ukulele I'd know what I was doing but hey, it appears not? Oh well; each to his own. At least I don't have to get personal to put my point across, that is supposing I'm allowed a position that isn't with everyones else....:nana:

I've posted a few more vids on Youtube and am processing the requested tutorial.

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i wasn't suggesting you don't have great uke building skills. just that you're a snob. it is possible to be a great builder and a snob at the same time. congrats on being both.

And you are?

Pete Howlett said:

And you are?

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...a very observant a-hole. i'll end my hijack of your thread. this is way off topic now.

Yep - they say, "When you are in a hole stop digging!"

Well, you can be a great builder, and use great materials, and build a beautiful looking instrument, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get a great sounding ukulele...

I'm completely sure Pete Howlett has made lots of fine sounding and resonant isntruments, but several years ago I had a concert uke of his that was stunningly spectacular and beautiful highly flamed koa with a truly lovely paua shell purfling and all the rest. But it sounded deader than a doornail and had wolf tones on two particular notes (I don't remember which notes they were now). I bought it from Bernunzio, sold it to a private party shortly after I got it, and saw it back on sale at Elderly a few months later and then sold again, and saw it again for sale on ebay a couple of months after that.

The same builder using similar materials won't always get "the" sound. Maybe the best and most mature builders are those who won't sell an instrument whose sound is subpar, regardless of how beautiful it looks, even if built on consignment.

Please please note that I am not casting aspersions on Pete Howlett's work. I am just telling my experience, and this was several years ago. He may have changed his construction techniques, or perhaps that particular instrument was just a fluke in unresonant unhappiness.

Intereseing - this is the first dud I have heard of... I wonder what happened to it. John would have returned it so would Elderly. I dealt with both... oh well. One out of four hundred... any more out there?

Must have been made 1997... as I said - I have improved and continue to do so. If you read my posts. watch my videos and read comments from satisfied customers you will see I don't claim to be the greatest. I can recommend building loads of instruments - that concert would have been half way through my batch building career - I can't find my book but it will be recorded.

Now I am beginning to get it really right. Thanks for this story. Far from humbling me totally, it has given me the hope that my best work is really yet to come.

Hi Pete, hi guys. My first post here beyond an into. I've played a few of Pete's recent instruments - a couple of tenors and some sopranos. I've found them to be really nice instruments. The helsinki sopranos that he made are the most exceptional sops I've played, and I've played a few high end ukes. Of course that's quite a subjective thing to say - they're loud and have very clear crisp forward sound, nicely balanced and with complex undertones (yes, I know, sounds like a pretentious wine review... sorry), more like an improvement on the good qualities of a kumalae or any of those bright, warm sounding old hawaiian ukes than say the qualities of a good Martin.
As for Pete himself, I think he reads differently to how he comes across in person. Perhaps some of the negative qualities attributed to him are due to that. He's a lovely guy - very particular - but absolutely a lovely guy.

Pete Howlett said:

Yep - they say, "When you are in a hole stop digging!"

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I feel tension building in this thread...
Clickie!

http://ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14

Pete you should probably read this post and then if you choose to continue posting here, adhere to the recommendations.

http://ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2630

Imagine if Aldrine posted stuff like that about learning the ukulele. I bet there wouldn't be very many people in the UU forums if he had that attitude.

Aldrine, I hope you won't take it the wrong way, but that's quite ambiguous moderation - it could be aimed at just Pete - you quote him, and that would be rather uneven moderation - I was a bit taken aback when I read it that way, particularly when followed by rayans comment, but you probably meant it for a few people who were contributing to building tensions? Sorry to be a moany new guy, no one likes that! Just that it's important to know where you stand with moderation.
More importantly I think there's something interesting in what Pete said, and the disagreement about technology which is to do with what it is that you think of as an archetypal or typical uke - or what are the qualities of a uke that you think of as embodying what a uke is. From talking with Pete I think for Pete it's above all the tone of old island ukes which, it's true, hasn't been replicated or, in its way, bettered, but with some improvements... What's important about this is that it's a very clear goal for a luthier, but perhaps is very different to what some other luthiers or perhaps some players are looking for.
I'll start a new thread about this rather than bring people to this thread with it's unhappy disagreements.

Pete has his views on technology and stated them. For anyone to take those personally is pretty outrageous.

I'm curious as to how this was turned around to be Pete's bad manners. You kids Republicans? That may explain it.....

I really don't think that it matters weather a person is a Republican, or a Democrat. The fact of the matter is, that this is an Ukulele Luthier forum, and we are getting way off topic.
How bout them Ukuleles Huh?

Neal said:

Pete has his views on technology and stated them. For anyone to take those personally is pretty outrageous.

I'm curious as to how this was turned around to be Pete's bad manners. You kids Republicans? That may explain it.....

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Hi Neal. Welcome to the boards.

I don't think Pete has crossed a line. He is entitled to his views. All builders probably have their own set of beliefs. After 14 years, Pete's views are set in stone.

Russ, however has resorted to name-calling. Please refrain from outright name-calling in the future.

Also, bringing up political stuff is uncalled for, and is dangerously close to name-calling. Please be careful.

I don't want to lock this thread, guys. Please keep it civil.

seeso said:

I don't want to lock this thread, guys. Please keep it civil.

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I'll lock this thread. This is getting ridiculous. If these new guys want to come in to UU and play, they play by our rules. Don't come in and call out how we moderated the boards. I take that as a personal offense. We mod our boards a specific way for a reason and we've been growing at an enormous rate. I wonder why? because people like what we're doing.

I had already explained to Pete in a PM why everyone reacted to his posts.