Official Luthiers Forum!

I've been on spring break for three weeks and am building full time...what a blast!

If you've visited my website you've stumbled over some research I've done on an early luthier working in Indianapolis. Frenk Bremerman actually had a ukulele factory in the 1920s churning out hundred of ukes. Most were labelled by music store and other makers so tracking them down in nearly impossible.

I own a labelled Bremerman uke and guitar..the uke started my research.

To make a long story short....Frank's grand daughter (nearly 70 yrs. old) commissioned me to build a uke for her. She made no stipulations re: design. She's an artist and understands the nature of artistic license.

I built for her my standard soprano, but looked to her grandfather's work for inspiration, esp. in the details.

I scaled up and re-developed his headstock design, including a pearl teardrop. My fretmarkers match his ( a dot, a flower? and a crown.

His is beautiful koa. Not having any koa in stock, and no patience to order, I used my best beeswing mahagony board.

My uke is bound in white celluloid, his in ivory. Both heels are similar and capped in ebony.

I just started the finish today...one spit coat of shellac...many more tomorrow.

This has been a ball! I'll hate to see it go.

Nice work, Geoff! You've got a slightly larger body, but a much smaller soundhole--could you expound a bit on the results you expect?

The body shape and soundhole in this uke are part of my standard soprano design. I pulled the original body shape and dimensions from a 1920s Gretsch American uke.

The Gretsch American is very Martin-like. Similar dimensions, wood thicknesses and bracing...but not a Martin. Like in guitars, Martins are the "gold standard" of ukes. I'm a bit of a rebel and was looking for a successful place to start without following the pack in their pursuit of Martin perfection.

It's been a successful design. I've played with bracing and soundhole size and have developed a uke that I like to play....in fact I've played through the top of one.

Re: sound.

The Bremerman is a nicely built instrument and intonates well, but has a sound that may be considered thin and tinny to the modern ear. There is little sustain. I've compared it to many ukes of the era and it's tone is not atypical.

Martins and Gretsh Americans, Harmony Vita Ukes, etc. all produced a great full tone, punchy attack and good sustain. This is the kind of sound the folks seem to still seek today.

It is my hope that this uke will have great sound and payability but will respectfully tip it's hat to Frank and his ukes.

I would like to explore copying the body, etc. of Frank's uke. There is much more to explore.

Now.. all of this is chasing shadows. It's all subjective and open to interpretation. This is my take at this minute.

Thanks, Geoff. You've probably read the discussions here about the affect of soundhole size on an instrument's timbre, and it seems that your results reinforce the concensus that (simplistic version) a smaller soundhole adds more bass.CarltonM38819.6497453704

Beautiful little instruments!
I personally would love to build a little ukulele for myself - when you get your kits together you can certainly mark me down for one.
Cheers
Charlie

Geoff, superb job, enjoy the break, summers coming!

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Thanks guys.....

I am looking forward to summer break, but I teach in a year round school. It's only three weeks long! (I know that three weeks is still a huge block of time for a'building')

Thanks for sharing your experiences Geoff, lovely ukes and great website BTW, i enjoyed listening to your instruments also! Have fun away from 'em kids!