The latest edition to the Flea family is out: Bark Cloth Flea ukulele. The uke was designed by Tiki King, so no prizes for guessing the style of decoration.
When I first saw thiselectric Gibson ETU3 ukulele, I assumed someone must have screwed the pickup to as some sort of ill-judged adaption. But, apparently, it was designed like that. According to the item’s description, there were only six of these made; I can see why. Having said that, being built in 1949, it has to be one of the earliest electric ukuleles ever built.
There are a couple of interesting antique ukes around this week. One is a uke from Leonardo Nunes (son of Manuel Nunes and inventor of the ‘Teeny’). The other, even more interestingly, is a Weissenborn ukulele. Weissenborn are best known as the leading manufacturer of lap steel guitars and don’t, I think, make ukuleles any more. But this one was a bit a beauty and takes some of the features of the lap steel design – most notably the binding pattern going all the way up the neck.
But, cutest ukulele of the week has to go to the SpruceHouse IS-0 Island Style Koa Ukulele.
[…] I get to do a ‘where are they now?’ on a ukulele I’ve featured in this section. A few weeks ago, I was admiring this Weissenborn ukulele on eBay. I’m happy to report it’s found a good […]