Size: Soprano
Number of Strings: 4

Wood: Koa Body, Larch Soundboard, Ebony and Mahogany
This one of a kind whimsical ukulele has been on my sketch pad for some time and I finally decided that it was time to create it. My design is inspired by Absolut Vodka's extraordinary advertising art campaign. To sucessfully achieve the Absolut bottle illusion I decided there was no way to make an instrument with a full twelve frets so I opted for only 7 frets, which works well for my left hand style! The illusion of the stubby bottle neck also wouldn't allow the tuners to be placed up there. So to keep the tuners off the top of the instrument the 'bottle top' became the string tie off point and the tuners are at the bottom of the instrument. The strings come down the ukulele's 14" scale length, over a 'floating bridge'and then over a thin glass rod resting on an ebony mount. The strings roll over the glass rod, through small holes and attach to the tuners. I used peg-head style geared tuners which have a 4:1 gear ratio. The tuning works remarkably smoothly.The back lower cavity of the instrument where the strings attach to the tuners is open alowing access to the mechanisms.

And what is the sound of this instrument you may wonder. Well, I was suprised myself. It it sharp, stacatto and punchy, somewhere between a banjo ukulele and a wooden soprano instrument. It is comfortable to hold yet without a peghead interfering with the left hand it feels a bit odd. But odd in a good way. It sure makes it easy to roll your hand around to reach something like a F minor chord or many of the open position augmented chords.

The finish is a tinted lacquer. The soundboard is ladder braced, similar to how a flat-top guitar with a floating bridge would be braced. There are two small soundholes which together approximate the correct size soundhole for the ukulele. The graphics are silkscreened onto the body and are 'in' the layers of finish so the top coats are smooth and the artwork is protected.

The instrument doesn't fit into a case. I can get a padded 'gig-bag' custom made for a hundred dollars with two weeks lead time.
Price: $1000 plus tax

Interested? give us a call at 510-845-5055 or email us at peter@pohakuukulele.com