Plastic Ukulele
Plastic ukuleles were all the rage in the 1950s. They were much cheaper and quicker to produce than wooden ukuleles and, largely thanks to the endorsement of Arthur Godfrey, sold by the barrow full.
1950 saw a patents for designs of new ukuleles being filed including those by David Rosenheim, George Finder and Mario Maccaferri.
Of these designs, it was Maccaferri who had the most success. Maccaferri were, and still are, most associated with their jazz acoustic guitars as used my Django Reinhardt. The Maccaferri Islander ukulele was a big success. As well as the soprano model, they also had a baritone Islander which mimicked the distinctive shape of the Maccaferri guitars. One thing you might like to keep an eye out for whilst perusing Maccaferri ukes is the color. Most of the ukes had a plain white front, but a range was made with a pearl effect front.
Also very popular, thanks to Arthur Godfrey’s endorsement, were Emenee’s Flamingo ukulele. These ukes came with a set of pitch pipes attached to the headstock. I’m not quite sure how you’re supposed to tune your ukulele whilst playing these pitch pipes, but it certainly looks great.
Both the Islander and the Flamingo came with a button operated chord device that straps over the neck of the ukulele (called a Chord Master on the Maccaferri and a Uke Player on the Flamingo). The device was originally patented by Mario Maccaferri (you can see it here). Having one of these adds to the value of the ukulele.
As well as making the Islander, Maccaferri also produced the Mastro TV Pal and Playtune ranges of plastic ukes. Maccaferri ended up selling his rights to the Carnival company.
Other plastic ukuleles you are likely to come across are the Lisa, the Fin-der and the Mauna Loa which bear an uncanny resemblance to each other and most probably manufactured by the same company.
As well as Arthur Godfrey, there were plenty of other celebrity plastic ukes, including a Beatles ukulele (by Maccaferri) and a Ukulele Ike uke.
If you’d like to learn more about the history of plastic ukuleles, I can highly recommend John King’s article.
On Video
Gus of GUGUG guides us through his extensive collection of plastic ukuleles.
On eBay
[phpbay]plastic ukulele, 3, “”, “fretboard”[/phpbay]
5 Comments
Al,
Thanks for this. In the last few weeks I’ve become fascinated with plastic ukes. Apparently a lot of them are good quality instruments and quite playable. I recently bought a modern made one (Amuse Ukulele) and love it. Another youtuber besides Gugug that features plastics is UkeHeidiUkeAida. You should check him out if you haven’t already.
Thanks again,
Stephen
G’day matey, and greetings from Australia. Would you be able to tell me what was the make and model of the uke that Authur Godfrey played? I think he played a baritone but am not sure.
Cheers and all the bset.
Love your site and uku info you give out – tops!
Jay
Melbourne, Australia
Hi again,
I would like to know what you think is the best ukulele in the world? I know, it’s your opinion only but I value it. I’m in the middle of buying either a Kamaka or Mya-Moe. What’s your view?
Cheers again,
Jay Dunning
Melbourne, Australia
My father, Louis A. Ruben (Dean Ross) invented the device that was marketed as the Arthur Godfrey Uke Player. I recall the original model, which was made in the basement of our home in Bayonne, NJ, was made of lucite. The patent search showed that the device was not patentable due to prior art, but it was a huge success because it was sold with the Arthur Godfrey name. It was such a big hit that after it came out, it was sold on three floors at Macy’s at the same time.
Just picked up a Flamingo by Emenee with the removable Arthur Godfrey Uke Player and attached pitch pipes. What do you suppose it is worth? Bought it for my 2-year old granddaughter who is moving here from Tasmania, but now think it might be worth more than the dollar I paid for it. Nice collection you’ve got there!
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