| One day while on my lunch break from the data center (in the old Libbys cannery, downtown Sacramento) I heard a street musician playing the mandolin. I was struck by the beauty and purity of the sound so I immediately went home and ordered one from eBay. I studied and played the instrument for a few years only to learn that the music I like is not really mandolin music. I set the instrument aside for a few years. Then, after we moved to Fort Bragg Linda and I took some ukulele lessons and joined a group. I loved the ukulele but had trouble learning the chords and really didn’t like singing the songs in the group. Once again I found I preferred classical music rather than the sing and strum of the ukulele. A classical guitar found its way into our home and I struggled with it for a year or so but found I preferred the ukulele. While I was figuring things out he ukulele collection grew by two or three a year with the less favorite instruments making their way to storage. Finally I had a couple of favorites and I began to get serious about learning to play classical and jazz on the uke. | My mandolin
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| After experimenting with many ukuleles I wound up with two that I like to play. My Gypsy tenor with a low G is my favorite for mellow tunes and especially for fingerpicking. My Gypsy tenor was purchased from eBay – from a factory in Vietnam run by Bruce Wei (a luthier). It is made from solid (not laminate) walnut and as a gypsy it has a slightly different body, a zero fret and a slightly longer scale. After a correction of the intonation this ukulele became my go-to instrument. | Tenor Gypsy Jazz ukulele |
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| For strumming I wound up with an inexpensive plastic ukulele. My Flight travel ukulele is concert sized – slightly larger than soprano and smaller than tenor. Even though it sounds a little less than I prefer I find I like it for strumming – it has the high G. The size is appealing too, handy to handle. |  |
| The new idea is to have another ukulele made that incorporates what I like about the concert size AND the sound and quality I like about the tenor. I thought it would be nice to have a ukulele made to match the Gypsy Jazz tenor. I emailed Bruce Wei and he agreed to make me one. A few days later his proposal arrived in the email. His proposal is on the right.
Here are the measurements for my Tenor: Scale length: 17″, Body width: 9 12/32, Overall length: 26 1/8, Fingerboard width at nut: 36mm, Fingerboard width at 12th fret: 44mm, # Frets clear: 14, # frets total: 19. After careful study and internal debate I wrote back with the following concerns. A concert ukulele is normally 23 inches tall. At almost 25 inches I felt it was too close in size to the tenor – would he make it closer to 23 inches. I also felt that the body was too close to the tenor in size and the sound would be very close. A couple of days later I received an improved proposal (below). |
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 After review I agreed to the change even though it is still a large concert and the body will be large for a concert. The next part of the project (for Bruce) was to build a mold; then begin the exciting work. Pictures below. |
This is the final plan. As the project continues I am promised pictures of the construction. The ukulele should be finished in about 60 days. |
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| As of December 21, 2021 the ukulele is finished and I think it looks great. I like the white strings – they will solve one of my problems with positioning my fingers. It will probably take two or three weeks for the ukulele to ship from Vietnam – or longer because of the Christmas rush. Hopefully the intonation is correct this time.
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