Circa 1900
Hawaiian Ukulele
© Frank Ford, 2000; Photos by FF

A fine example of Hawaiian folk craft, this unnamed old timer sports quite a bit of fancy trim. The classic "rope" pattern binding has the same casual look as the rest of the instrument. Even the fret positioning is casual. If you look closely at the URL for the photos, you'll see that I've named this one "ook" after the Hawaiian pronunciation "ook-oo-lele." No Hawaiian would be caught saying, "you-ku-lele." By the way, this little fellow is made of koa and sounds terrific.

Please click the small image

I assume the Grover Champion pegs replaced an original set of wooden friction pegs.		The back binding is curious. Was this a repair, like the added "wings" on the back?

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