Cuttle Up a Little Closer

Check out this cephalopod chordophone! Link

Cary Kelly over at Mya-Moe Ukuleles recently completed this custom Sycamore Tenor Cutaway (Cuttle-away?) featuring a sweet squid graphic etched onto the soundboard via pyrography. The pyrograph here was done by Dumitru “Dino” Muradian, who was profiled in the Fall, 2020 issue of Ukulele Magazine.

Cary says he's now built three ukes with pyrography on the soundboard. Victoria Vox owns one, which she uses for both recording and performances. He notes that he hasn't noticed any adverse affect on tone: "I’ve heard some argue that it opens up the soundboard, much like torrefied soundboards, but I’m not fully convinced of that."

By the way, I was so captivated by this design that it took me a couple of weeks to realize that it's a left-hand set-up.

I wonder if there's ever been a Kala-Mari uke...

The Secret of the Ukulele Finally Revealed!

I'm proud as punch to share that the good folks at Ukulele Magazine interviewed me for their Spring 2023 issue.

It's a great honor to recognized for having edited this little blog for over 20 (!) years and to have been able to chronicle, in particular, the early years of this Third Wave of ukulele popularity.

If you've come here via the profile in Ukulele Magazine: welcome! (And if you're not yet a subscriber, it's a terrific publication. I look forward to it arriving in my mailbox four times a year. You really should subscribe. It's about the cost of two sets of strings...)

A big thank you to Blair Jackson at Ukulele Magazine for the opportunity. Also to Craig Robertson, who was a treasured co-editor for a few years. And finally, to Mark Frauenfelder, who created Ukulelia (Your Passport to Four Stringed Paradise!) as an offshoot of Boing Boing back in the late 90s before generously handing me the keys in the early 00s.

I guess now I have to be a bit more diligent about turning up more remarkable stuff to share. It's a real challenge to find hidden treasures today. Stay tuned!

Here's the issue. Spoiler: I'm on the back page.

And as for that clickbait headline: it's a little inside joke for my friends who constantly remind me how bad I am at self-promotion...