An unexpected Ukulele

[markj]

I met my friend Bill Hatfield, when he owned a local guitar / ukulele sales and repair shop. He happened to be a Larrivee dealer which is how I found his shop in the first place.  Bill has been amassing an arsenal of luthier tools for a few decades now and he started building his first acoustic guitars about 18 months ago.

He never intended to sell guitars, just make them for family and close friends for time and material type fees. IOW, very good pricing on hand crafted instruments done to world-class standards.

His first two guitars are very very nice. Well the first one is the only one I have played but the second guitar just looks so much better still. As is usual when one gets more experience.

He interrupted the build on the 2nd guitar to build his first Ukulele. He decided to do this to offer it for sale with all of the proceeds going to his daughter's family as her husband is fighting cancer and cannot work.

It was offered up at a family event but did not sell so Bill put it up on FB yesterday with a video of him playing it and singing a Beatles song.

Sarah watched the video with me and at the end of the video I blurted out, I want to buy it. And to my surprise, she agreed!

So I sent a dm to Bill telling him that I want the Ukulele. He was very happy that I ended up with it.

It sounds amazing. It has a very long sustain if you want it.

All solid wood all hand made. American Walnut Back, Sides and Top. Flame Maple Body Binding and Fretboard that is bound in Walnut on top of Honduran Mahogany neck with scarf joint. Rosewood Bridge, Bone Saddle and Nut, Abalone/MOP fretboard markers and headstock logo. Open Back Grover Tuners. Bill had to make the body mold and all the other tooling required to thin plane and bend the sides, etc. Even the neck is hand carved. All the bracing is also hand carved. The beer stein on the heal plate is a nice touch. 

Here are some photos of this little one-of-a-kind beauty. It's Bill's first instrument he ever sold. I can't put it down. It is so much fun to play and sounds so good!

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[StringPicker6]

That is gorgeous. Congratulations, and thanks for the great story!