Meet my new baby - D J Morgan mini-pineapple uke - "Morganino"! in maple....

A new baby always brings joy, admiring smiles, cries of "How cute!" and "Oh what a pretty little thing!" and new ukulele babies are exactly the same... none more so than a pretty sopranino. So meet my new Pineapple baby - Polly!

I knew Dave Morgan (D J Morgan Ukuleles) was building some... and I am over the moon to be the proud owner of number MP12 001 - the prototype!

The scale length is exactly 295mm, and the total length is 450mm... a typical Martin-style 12 frets to the body soprano has a scale length of 350mm, total length 515mm.

Here she is next to her big sister Sprucey Lucy - (14 frets to the body, not 12.)

Visually I like a lot of things - Dave (Morgan) has the artist's eye for balance and style... the overall look is perfectly balanced; the pineapple shape is a pleasing one and it's echoed in the shape of the sound hole. The solid maple fretboard looks just right. It's interesting that maple turns to a rich honey colour over time, and this uke will do that.

This little uke is built of solid maple with a poplar neck and finished with a matte cellulose lacquer. She's not only really pretty, with the maple grain and the signature Morgan stripes on the headstock (green veneer, suggestive of pineapple leaves) but she sounds amazing!


In spite of the short scale length, she sounds just great in C tuning, but I've tuned her up to D tuning and she really sings! Listen for yourself.... I haven't tried tuning her up further to Eb yet, but I will...

This is what she sounds like in D!


The build quality is impeccable... and Dave makes everything himself except for the frets and the tuners. Simply - can't fault 'em....

So.... this is a prototype but Dave is going to be building more... he tells me he's aiming to use sustainable woods for this line of ukes and also to keep the price very affordable. So watch out... the Morganinos are on their way!

Thanks for dropping in, I really appreciate it... do come back now!

Dave Morgan. Luthier, DJ Morgan Ukuleles, (Dudley, England) - remember that name!

I am the very proud owner of a new hand-built ukulele, and it's gorgeous.

This was not a commission, but an off-the-shelf purchase that just happened to be exactly what I was looking for - a concert uke in solid mahogany with 14 frets to the body, fret markers to the fingerboard and the side, a nice rosette, good geared tuners... the builder's name is Dave Morgan, (DJ Morgan Ukuleles) and is based in Dudley, a town not far from me in the English West Midlands. We chatted on the phone and he offered to bring the uke round for me to see. All arranged for yesterday morning. I waited with bated breath - would this uke be heavy? Over-built? Dead? Thick sound-board? I needn't have worried, it's beautiful, beautifully made and sounds just great. I'm thrilled to bits with it.

Dave Morgan is a cabinet-maker and guitarist of thirty years turned ukulele enthusiast and luthier. He just loves building ukuleles! The workmanship was always going to be spot-on. He says "All of my ukuleles are completely handmade, all timber components are individually crafted by myself even the kerfing strips. The only finished components I buy are the strings, fret wire and the tuners. As all my ukuleles are individually made they will all be unique in appearance depending on the materials I choose."

The intonation is perfect, with a saddle angled to aid this. And there are some inspired touches - the fret markers (5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, 15th) are made of green abalone, which looks gorgeous. Also tiny ones to the side of the neck - I like those. The rosette is white with black edges, and is perfectly placed around the sound hole. And see that headstock? The three stripes? So subtle that I didn't notice them until Dave had gone home. Beautiful! Noticing that was like an extra surprise.

Grover tuners, nut and saddle hand-made from corian, rosewood finger board and bridge. And it is a joy to play. I'm going to do a video review - watch out for that!

And you know what else? He really is such a lovely fella, a great craftsman and I wish him well.

Like I said, watch that name - Dave Morgan, DJ Morgan Ukuleles - from the Black Country.

He's on facebook and sells on Etsy and ebay. As I write, he has another mahogany concert like mine and some gorgeous sopranos with Sitka spruce tops.... you really should look!

Ready! Peter Moss's new Pete Howlett uke!

What Peter Moss has been waiting for... just completed.... watch this space for first video performance!

For fine ukuleles hand-built in the UK, find Pete Howlett ukuleles here...

By Pete Howlett - Peter Moss's new custom-built ukulele in English Cherry

So - that's why Peter Moss was visiting the renowned ukulele luthier Pete Howlett at his workshop in Wales - Pete is building him a new performance signature ukulele ... and, courtesy Of Peter Moss, here it is in the first stages of build.




The body is English cherry and the neck is alder. My dream exactly - a perfectly-crafted Pete Howlett ukulele made of beautiful English woods.... the fingerboard is ebony and the inlay is green marble-type. What a beauty that is going to be. And in the hands of a virtuoso player like Peter Moss, it will sing like the angels..... we just have to be patient and wait a while until it's finished to hear it.

Do check out Peter Moss's YouTube channel, and Pete Howlett's website - see my previous post for links!

And coming up - more info on this great ukulele and banjolele player....

On Shakespeare's birthday, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever...." my dream uke would be -

My dream ukulele would be a thing of beauty, a joy forever, gorgeous to the eye and gorgeous to the ear ...

It would be made in Britain from the finest woods available...

It would be designed and built with love and care, and an eye to perfection by a master craftsman...

It would be a Pete Howlett ukulele.



Pete has also won the love and respect of his luthier peers worldwide with his series of YouTube videos "Ukulele Building School" and "Ukulele Building Course". See his YouTube channel....

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever...." Happy birthday, Will... you were so right.

If I Could Design my Own Ukulele.....

There was a thread on the Ukulele Underground Forum the other day, along the lines of "What would your dream ukulele be like?" As I'm on the look-out for a new, pretty, excellent-sounding ukulele it set me thinking. I've drooled over the beautiful custom-built ukuleles made by luthiers - works of art in wood, they are, and some are highly decorated with various inlays. If money were no object, what would I commission for myself? Would it be an instrument built of solid koa, with a rosette of abalone and inlays of turquoise? With binding down the sides of the finger-board?

I went to sleep last night dreaming up my perfect ukulele! And here it is - or would be - in my dreams!

It would have to sound sweet and loud.

It would be a long-neck soprano, or a concert, traditional figure-eight shape, round sound hole - built with woods with a beautiful grain, ideally but not essentially grown in the UK, ideally recycled from some beautiful but unwanted furniture. (We're talking Dream Ukulele here!)

Binding on the body not necessary, but a beautiful rosette - not rope pattern. That's for guitars, in my book. The rosette could be inlays of other woods, perhaps with a little mother-of-pearl, but not necessarily. The finish on the body would be satin - not matt, not glossy. Just look well-polished. French-polished, most likely.

No binding on the finger-board but there would be inlaid markers, perhaps tiny flowers like pimpernels at spaces 5, 7, 10, and 12.

The headstock would be solid, shaped nicely at the top in keeping with the traditional look of the whole instrument, with good friction tuners and dark buttons.

There would be a "green man" inlaid or somehow fashioned onto the headstock. The whole instrument would breathe "wildwood", integrity, and would ooze craftsmanship and quality. And beg to be played.

Ah me - that's my daydream for today!

Paul's Custom Uke

Here begins a tale of one man's case of UAS - Ukulele Aquisition Syndrome, or to give it its Latin name, needus ukuleleus. UAS is very, very common among the ukulele-playing community. A collection of five to ten ukuleles in various sizes and woods is not at all uncommon......Paul is a mate on the wonderful Ukulele Underground Forum. He begins his tale thus:

"If there is such a thing as the UAS (ukulele aquisition syndrome) bug, the little blighter bit me twice! I started of with a lovely little Lanikai soprano and fell head over heels in love with the ukulele! Chords were a little easier than the guitar, which I played for 25 years leading up to this, the sweet honey tones simply had me captivated. Then, my better half announced that she had ordered me an 'Oscar Schmidt' concert for valentines! Oh how I love her...Ah...The first thing I did was change the strings to a set of low G Aquila Nylguts. The sound was just beautiful and very different to my Lanikai. Then I heard people talking about solid wood ukuleles and how amazing they sounded and there my next mission began. A few weeks ago I bought myself an Ohana Tenor, all solid mahogany with a cutaway and she is a stunner! So warm and mellow, with sustain for weeks! I also recently commissioned a luthier to build me something rather special. Here are the first pictures; the actual woods which will make up my custom treasure!

Western red cedar - top

Macassar ebony - sides and bottom






Watch this space! Paul"

Reports from Paul to follow from time to time, as the build progresses!

A New Ukulele Hero - Roger - Roger Williams, Luthier

"Luthier" isn't a word that comes normally into conversation. It wasn't even in my vocabulary until very recently - but I now know that a luthier is a person who builds and repairs stringed instruments.

Roger Williams does NOT build ukuleles; he builds guitars, beautiful ones, commissioned and played by professional artists in their field; classical, flamenco, acoustic and baroque... and he tends and repairs them, as well as supplying and fitting pick-up systems to acoustic guitars. And he does refretting and fret-dressing.

Little banjo-ukuleles are not his usual bread-and butter. But the wonderful man has fixed mine up.

My little bird's eye maple, 90 year-old beauty made by Slingerland needed a bit of professional attention. When she arrived, she looked pretty darned good for an instrument built in the 1920's - but I couldn't tune her up because of a slipping friction tuner. I fixed it - but the action was too high, and the frets were chewing up one of the strings. Johnny Foodstamp suggested that it was time for some professional intervention, and the search was on. I found Roger. He agreed that my little darlin' was indeed a beauty, looking so good that she could have passed for five years old, and agreed to level and reshape the frets. He filed down the slots in the nut to lower the action, and perfected the bridge. He put the head on the neck perfectly straight and tightened up the bolts on the tension hooks. And now I can play her.

What a hero - when you see him at work in his workshop, building a beautiful guitar, you will know how privileged I feel that he did this for me and my little banjo-ukulele. Thank you Roger!

Please watch the video of Roger at work, building one of his wonderful guitars.

Note - this was originally posted two days ago, but in editing the post today to embed the video, rather than linking it, I've managed to muck up the order and it has come out as another new post.

My third ukulele hero - Johnny - Johnny Foodstamp

"Get that wound string off there right now, Missy!"

It all started when I discovered that the lovely set of Aquila new nylgut strings that I'd put on my "new" vintage - no - antique - 1920's Slingerland banjolele were looking sick. Or at least, the wound C string was - and because of "issues" with the little baby that I was still trying to fix, I'd actually hardly played it. Notches all the way up it, tiny bits of wire sticking out and almost broken through in one place. Not for the first time, shock horror! I don't really know why, but the strings that Aquila supply especially for the banjo-uke have a wound third string - nylgut, with fine wire wound around it. But there was something definitely amiss, apparently with the frets. Slipping friction tuner - I'd fixed that. Action much too high at the nut - well, I was working on it. All with advice and instruction from heroes and friends on the wonderful Ukulele Underground Forum. But now the frets.

Well, they looked fine to me - but perhaps they were a little bit rough - and a bit tarnished. "Help! What to do?" goes out the plaintive call to the UU forum once again. And once again, I'm furnished with all the information I need. Well, I'm all geared up with wire wool, Brasso, masking tape for the fingerboard.... when the advice comes over, "Get that wound string off there right now, missy! Go with some fluorocarbon strings....they sound great on a banjo-uke!" Now this advice comes from one of my ukulele heroes, Johnny Foodstamp, who hails from Nashville, Tennessee, and plays a real badass banjo-ukulele Formby-style with added attitude, for audiences all over the state, and beyond. And he has one like mine... an antique Slingerland.

Next, he sends the advice "It sounds like they need more then a cleaning. My frets are sort of sharp on my old Slingy too. Any luthier should be able to fix that and usually uke repair is pretty cheap because they are so small."

So - I have managed to find a luthier in my area, a lovely man who has taken her in and agreed to do the necessary. By the end of next week, I should have her back, spruced up and ready for some serious strumming, tripling and split-stroking... well, some serious practice, anyway.

And as for the recommended fluorocarbon strings, they are on order and I'm going to try them out.

I wonder whether I'll ever be able to play like this - click here for Johnny Foodstamp playing some real mean banjo-ukulele on a Slingerland like mine.