Jamming For Japan

Last Saturday Barbara and I and our friends Pat and Paula attended a ukulele jam session at a beach in Hilo. This event was created by Keoki Kahumoku. Keoki is a very well known musician not only in Hawaii but internationally. He plays, and teaches slack key guitar and ukulele. He organizes ukulele workshops for youth every year. He is very involved with community activities especially with the island youth. He is presenting a series of what he calls Ukulele Jam sessions. Raising money for Japan relief. How is works is like this; you show up with your uke and a chair. Keoki will then teach us a song. White boards on both side of the “stage” have the cords written and the cord diagrams drawn. Keoki starts us off showing the strum pattern and starts singing and playing and calling out the cord changes. We sing and play with him. It really works well, you catch on quick. It wasn’t just Keoki teaching, he had several well know players and teachers each taking a session. One of our favorite musicians on the Big Island is Brittni Paiva. We first saw her on the stage in theater in the park. She was 16 she is now 22 and married. Brittini and Keoki gave us a great session. We played the cords and Brittini did the picking. This is a scan of the first CD she made. I think she has 5 released now. Great fun for a great cause.

Brittini Paiva and Keoki Kahumoku

Jammers Jamming, Barbara, Paula and Pat

Having fun and raising money for Japan Relief

The Kilauea Six

Here are pictures of my latest ukulele. It is a six string tenor




The body; top, sides and back are AAA solid Koa all book matched. That means all the pieces were cut from the same log. The fretboard and peg head are Ebony

The neck is Spanish Cedar. Very light and very strong. There is a 1/4 inch diameter carbon fiber rod in the neck running the length of the fretboard. This adds stiffness to the neck without adding much weight.

The rosette is Paua Abalone shell. The bridge is Ebony


The tuning keys are Grover open gear 16:1 turning ratio. The strings are made by Worth. A six string ukulele is tuned just like a four string, G,C,E,A. But a six string has the A string doubled an octave apart and the C string also is doubled and is an octave apart

Louisa's Birthday Party At The Zoo

Happy Birthday Louisa!

Face Painting By Julia

Clara, a few days into being 15

A short break between sessions of running, jumping and sliding down the hill

Ice Cream, design your own cup!

The Beautiful Birthday Girl

The best part! Opening the presents!

Pat and Paula arrive!

Just in case it rained we were under cover

Koa Kea ukulele

Here is the brochure I made for my latest tenor ukulele. If you click on the picture it will become big enough to read.

Pictures from the BIUG exhibit in Kona

We really had a great time comparing notes on instrument building. Everybody sharing their knowledge and experience

A view of the exhibit. That is Pat walking on the extreme right


We had about 30 ukes on exhibit


The two 3rd and 4th from the left in the middle are Pats ukes






The historic Kona Inn looking from the sea wall

Pat and Paula and Barbara and me


Me with my 4 ukes right of my hand

Antique ukes

Big Island Ukulele Group Annual Show

Here is the poster of the BIUG November show in Kona Hawaii.

The California Six

Here is a new six string tenor ukulele I finished a month or so ago. The back and sides are California Walnut also known as Claro Walnut. The top is Sinker Redwood. I have described that before, wonderful top wood. The neck is Spanish Cedar. I used my favorite strings, Worth, with a low G. It has a K&K passive pickup installed. I think it turned out well and I am hoping to sell it in our Big Island Ukelele Group annual show in Kona in November.

The Sinker Six

The Sinker Six is my first six string tenor ukulele. The sides and back are Claro Walnut also known as California Walnut. The top is California Redwood. This is called "Sinker Redwood" Why that name you say? Here is why. One hundred fifty years ago (about) Redwood trees were being logged on the slopes of the Mendocino River. As there were very few roads you could not harvest lumber as we do today with big lumber trucks. So the logs were cut, branches removed and the log rolled or dragged down slope and into the river. The logs were floated down river to the mill. Along the way, from time to time, a log would become "waterlogged" and sink to the bottom of the river. It would lie there for a hundred or more years absorbing minerals and salts from the river.The water would rise and fall, the chemicals in the water would vary from season to season. The logs would be stained and discolored. A few years ago several of these logs were raised from the river, dried and cut into lumber. Lutheriers have always regarded Redwood and one of the best materials for guitar tops and now you have a wood that not only has the great sonic qualities of redwood but a very unusual unique look. No two pieces are the same in color and pattern.

It did not take long for the California Department Of Fish And Game to put a stop to salvaging logs from the river bottom. The process badly disturbed the resting grounds for fish eggs and other creatures living on the bottom and in the water. So the sinker wood we have is all we will ever have. I have sinker wood for two more ukes. The price just keeps going up. Soon it will be too expensive for me. Oh well.....





This is a view of the top as I was installing the top bracing. Those sticks you see hold the brace in place as the glue dries. I will shape the braces after they are dry. You can see the grain pattern in the "sinker" wood.

Strange Grandsons

We have very strange Grandsons. After we captured them and disarmed them we discovered that they are (left to right) James Theisen from Surprise AZ and Adrian Cellini from Mountain View HI. It is clear they cannot be left alone together.

The Benny

After I finished Kate’s uke I built one for our friend Don “Benny” Bienvenue. This is a 4 string tenor made with book matched Koa. I had the name “Benny” laser engraved in the peg head. Paua Abalone rosette inlay. He loves it and plays it often.

The White Queen

Our Granddaughter Julia is an amazing artist. She entered this picture of herself as an Alice In Wonderland character in a contest. She made the costume, did her makeup, took the photograph, created the picture using Photoshop.

New Ukelele

Just in time for Christmas I finished a four string tenor ukulele for our daughter Kate. Here are some pictures of it.


The top or soundboard is Sitka Spruce with a slight "bearclaw" pattern. That is Paua shell in the rosette around the sound hole. The bridge is Indian Rosewood. The fretboard is Indian Rosewood. The fretboard also has Paua shell marker dots. Fourteen frets to the body.


The sides and back are curly Koa. The bindings around the top and bottom are also curly Koa.

This shot of the back shows the high figure of the Koa. The curly Koa sides were difficult to bend without cracking.

I put a label inside. Note the special little touch on the end of the fret board. I stole it from the Martin ukulele design. I put Worth brown strings on it. They are a bit stiff right now, but the feel will improve as she plays it.

Here is a close up of the peghead. I had the curly Koa peghead laser engraved with "Kate".

All in all, for my first effort building an instrument all on my own, I think this ukulele looks pretty good and it sounds very good now and the sound will be even better as it is played over the years.