#451- Spruce and Pistachio Tenor Ukulele

Wow. Check out that pistachio back and sides. Pistachio keeps surprising me, with grafts, sap wood and tractor blight adding to the amazing colors it produces. I worked hard to get a good book match on this, but honestly, the tree did the real hard work. Its visual boldness is balanced with the wide straight grain of the spruce top and neck, with some straight grain pistachio for the fretboard. Some customers might ask “is rope binding a little too much for this uke?” I always say “No. Go for it.” The spruce is from Camp Westwind on the Oregon coast and the pistachio is from California orchards.

#442- Walnut and Pistachio Tenor Banjo Ukulele

It is easy for me to get angry. Whether it is frustration with my 5 year old’s morning routine or rage at current events, I have found my work to be my best release. This morning, I felt angry. I went to the shop, turned on Neil Young (loud) and did the last steps on Matthew’s banjo uke. By the time I was back around to “Cinnamon Girl,” I felt better and was proud of the hours of work I put into this little piece of musical folk art. That rage was channeled into craft/love and now I get to put it in a box and send it across the world to make music/love. I am so lucky. The walnut is from The Ozark mountains and was milled by customer’s family on family land. It was lovingly saved all these years and sent to me to make banjo ukes. The pistachio is from California orchards, carefully saved from its fate in the chipper or the burn pile by woodfromthewest.com. All of us doing our best to change the things we can and leave the rest alone. I challenge Matthew to take this little banjo and do the same.

#443- Curly Walnut and Pistachio Concert Banjo Ukulele

We met Errol in Canada at a music camp we were teaching at. During one of my workshops, another customer of ours let him try out her banjo uke, which peaked his interest. He picked out a nice combination of features to produce a unique instrument. He asked for curly walnut, so I went back to my Goby stash to grab this multi colored Oregon walnut with red streaks. He added on the low g string, a pickup and an armrest as well. I picked pretty simple pistachio from California orchards for the fretboard, headplate and trim so that it wouldn’t overshadow the walnut. I’m really pleased with it, I hope he is too!

#447- Spruce and Curly Cherry Tenor Ukulele

I’ve had this curly cherry set for at least 7 years. It’s a strange mix of feelings to see it finished and out the door. I am happy someone finally believed me that it would look and sound great, but I also feel the loss of a special wood set! I paired it with a straight grain spruce top, muted pistachio, a fir neck and curly maple binding. It looks like a butterscotch sundae and sounds sweet too. The spruce was cut for a dulcimer maker in the 1960’s, the fir is a salvaged floor joist, the pistachio is from California orchards and the cherry is from Cath on Vashon Island.

#448- Figured Walnut and Pistachio Five String Banjo

It’s a rare treat to get to make a five string banjo two months in a row! This one is made from some very unique figured walnut from Goby in Portland. It has beautiful color variation, some nice curl and an amazing burl structure in the neck. The simple pistachio fretboard, headplate, rim cap and tone ring balance out the softer walnut and come from California orchards. It also features a calf skin head and my fluorocarbon string set for a polite banjo sound that still has plenty of volume.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! My beautiful new babe arrived safe and sound. And the sound is awesome! We have spent some time bonding and I know I will just love playing this gorgeous instrument! The smooth texture and amazing wood is captivating!
I am so pleased! Happy Holidays.

- M. R. ”

#450- Bearclaw Spruce and Mahogany Alto Ukulele

Spruce and mahogany is a classic combination with proven results in the guitar world. It’s great for a uke too, with nice volume and sustain but not too bright. I wrapped it up in curly maple binding and a streaky pistachio fretboard. It’s a simple look but has lots of small figures in the grain that are fun to discover. The spruce top is from Alaskan old growth salvage, the mahogany is from the Carpenter Ant stash in Portland and the pistachio comes from California orchards.

“Thank you so much for the craftsmanship, the attention to detail is amazing. I just received it and WOW! The character and voice is stunning. Love the art inside too :-). Has been a dream to own such an heirloom quality instrument since we met up in Reno a couple of years ago. Truly humbled by the skill you posses and put into each of your masterpieces. The tactile quality of the material and finishes is simply fantastic. The pick up is sublime and such a great voice both plugged in and natural.
- G. I.

Update May, 2020
Hi Aaron & Nicole,
#450 is wonderful. The finish and feel is sublime. The character in voice and sustain is dreamy. The wabi-sabi nail hole is beautiful and really speaks to your craft and attention to detail. The feel and playability of this ukulele is fantastic, the radius finger board and set up is perfect. Playing it feels like a vintage instrument that has been dialed in over the years. The choice in woods and voice is wonderful and unique. Bright but warm with a lovely gentle tone that is subtle but not without punch when needed.
Nicole’s drawing inside makes me smile when I take it out of the case to play it.
Thank you for working with my love (C) in helping her choose and craft this as a surprise for me. I was shocked and instantly in love with the instrument and its beauty in silence and motion. It will be played and cherished for many years to come. Inspires me to keep learning and playing and enjoying the peace of mind it gives when in the flow of creating music.

Appreciate you both and the work that goes into your product. Thank you so much and hope this finds you well and safe.
Much love and light,
- G.I.”

#452- Mahogany Tenor Ukulele

Stretching all the way back to the 1940’s, the mahogany tenor ukulele is a classic. Martin, Gibson, Lyon and Healy and Harmony all explored similar models. I like to add the rope binding for an even more old fashioned look. The Oregon walnut fretboard is a great substitute for tropical woods and is quite sustainable as an urban forestry product. The African mahogany for the body is from a stash of guitar sides we bought in Colorado when I first got started. We bought so much of it that I probably have a lifetime of mahogany ukuleles ahead of me!

#449- Spruce and Spalted Maple Alto Ukulele

For this ukulele, I let the natural color variations of the spalted maple lead in selecting the rest of the parts. I wanted to highlight the the range of colors without having everything “match” too much. I chose a spruce top with an off center brown line to introduce a little asymmetry to an other wise “perfect” front. I also mixed walnut and maple binding, stripy hemlock for the neck and chocolate brown walnut into the equation to complete the look. The maple is from the Carpenter Ant stash in Portland, the spruce is from a retired dulcimer maker, the walnut is from Goby in Portland and the hemlock is from Camp Westwind on the Oregon coast.

#446- Walnut, Fir and Hemlock Scout Ukulele

Sorry, not for sale. This Scout pushed me to try a few new things. First, I made a bridge inspired by the original Lyon and Healy Camp ukulele. It turned out nice, but I will tweak it for the next one. Also, I finally got around to using some walnut wall paneling from a college professor of mine. It reminds me of many Wisconsin basement rec-rooms from the 1980’s. It actually was straight grain and a little curly, which is nice. The neck is hemlock from Camp Westwind and the old growth fir top is salvaged from a floor board. I love saving these small pieces to make a beautiful and functional object!

“
The beautiful piece of artistry just arrived! It sounds so sweet too. Thank you for your talent.
- D. G.”

#432- Curly Walnut Mini Five String Banjo

It has been pretty hard to keep good, curly walnut in stock. It is pretty hard to find, expensive and you folks keep asking for it! My best source has been Goby walnut in Portland, where I often pick through the bins of shorts at the front of the store to find banjo sized pieces. It looks great combined with the raw brass banjo hardware and the greenish Pistachio from California orchards. This banjo was super fun for me to play today, with a growling, rumbling, dark and rich tone that still projects well. The lower tuning sounds great and it is ready for a lifetime of tunes!

#436- Spruce and Quilted Maple Alto Ukulele

As I work my way through the daily/monthly tasks of building instruments and running the business, it’s easy to forget how special these things are to our customers. For example, this is the second spruce and maple alto I built this month, it would be easy to just push it out and move on. But, to Jennifer this is THE Beansprout and it has to be as perfect as I can manage. The quilted maple is from the Carpenter Ant stash and matches Lizann’s uke from earlier in the month. The Oregon spruce top and hemlock neck are from Camp Westwind, one of my favorite places on earth. The pistachio comes from California orchards. It adds up to a lightweight and loud ukulele that has nice tone and sustain. I hope she loves it!

“This is truly a fantastic ukulele, and I could not be happier with it! I love the size and shape of the alto. It has a much larger, richer, and more satisfying sound than I get from the concerts and sopranos I usually play. The shape and size of the neck is supremely comfortable and it is now my favorite neck of all of the ukuleles in my collection. Overall, it is a very lively, lightweight, and resonant ukulele, and I feel the sound throughout the body and into the neck. The best way I can describe this uke is that it feels lived in and comfortable, like a favorite piece of clothing. It has just felt right from the first minute I held it. It is truly a joy to see, hold, touch, and hear. The Keim’s are wonderful to work with, and I hope to order another instrument someday! I will always treasure this ukulele, and I thank Aaron and Nicole for making it for me.
- J. L. ”

#435- Fir and Mahogany Alto Ukulele

Douglas Fir is the Oregon state tree. I find myself scouring the re-build-it center, scrap wood piles and Craigslist for any hint of this fine grained old growth stuff. I believe this was a stair tread, found in the Carpenter ant stash. It is very strong, sounds wonderful and has a reddish, rustic look too it. I have found the 2nd growth wood also sounds great, but is harder to work with. The back, sides and neck of this uke is Honduras mahogany from the Carpenter Ant stash. Because of bad forestry practice, it is now un-available, but these boards were cut for Grandfather clocks when it was still pretty easy to find. I love it far better than the current African “mahogany” that is available. The pistachio fretboard, headplate and bridge come from California orchards. Rae wanted a copy of an ukulele that she saw at a festival. I was happy to oblige, it is always nice when a customer knows just what they want!

#434- Walnut and Pistachio Concert Banjo Uke

Trees have two main types of wood: heart wood and sap wood.  On many trees, only the heart wood is used by fine wood workers.  With walnut, the sap wood is a lighter color and is sometimes too soft. This particular board from the Carpenter ant stash was still suitable for a banjo, so I chopped it up for the rim and the neck.  I love the hombre look of the two colors of walnut in the rim! The pistachio comes from California orchards and the natural skin head makes for a more rustic look and sound.

#433- Walnut and Pistachio Mini Five String Banjo

A busy wood shop, even if it has just one worker, has a constant flow of materials and products. Even though I have a pretty big shop, organizing this flow is tough. When it’s done right, it minimizes wood waste, keeps work spaces clear, provides good stock for instruments, supplies other artists with stock, feeds the wood stove and mulches they garden. A good example of reducing waste are these “mosaic” style block rims. Instead of using clear walnut stock for the rim, I save and process all the laminated scraps left from making the necks. It probably takes 5 banjos before I’ve got enough for one of these rims. Because the stock is laid out randomly, I never know how they will turn out, which I love. The walnut for the neck on this banjo comes from an orchard in Missouri, harvested by a customer’s grandfather. The pistachio comes from California orchards.

#438- Myrtle Alto Ukulele

This ukulele is for Andreas, who runs the site ukulelezeit.de. He was attracted to the wild grain, muted color palette and natural imperfections of the Wabi-Sabi aesthetic. These Myrtle alto ukuleles with asymmetrical tops and backs fit the bill and have turned into a “signature” model for Beansprout. I picked a Douglas Fir neck for him that had a beetle hole and some beautiful bark inclusions that was salvaged from a barn in The Dalles, OR. The Oregon Myrtle for the body came from the Carpenter Ant stash in Portland. The pistachio fretboard, headplate and bridge come from California orchards. I liked this one so much that I spent awhile today practicing the song “John Henry” for our new cd on it. “I’ll die with my hammer in my hand” seems appropriate to making handmade ukes for a living!

#437- Spruce and Maple Alto Ukulele

For four years now, our friends Lizann and Ken have offered access to their family wood stash in Portland (which we nicknamed the Carpenter Ant stash). Their generosity knows no bounds and we really value the relationship. The tools and wood we have gathered from them (most marked with a “K” or “KLS” for Ken’s initials) have truly kickstarted Beansprout and laid a long term foundation for our family. When she ordered this alto, I had just sliced a quilted maple board that I knew would look amazing for the back and sides. The next time I went to their place, I found this spruce top in a pile of shop scraps. It had her name penciled on it, as Ken had set it aside for a uke for her! The last piece of the puzzle was to pull a cutoff from the building of my work bench for her neck. It was fir from her shed, of course. It feels right to have this uke neck and my workbench connected in this way. The Pistachio fretboard and headplate come from California Orchards, but the rest is from the Carpenter Ant stash. This uke celebrates music, craft, community and friendship, thanks for supplying all, Lizann and Ken.

#441- Mastergrade Myrtle Tenor Ukulele

Folks often ask us to define “Mastergrade.” Well, it is an arbitrary term and each wood species gets treated differently. In the case of Myrtle, it follows the same terminology as Koa. There is straight grain, curly and Mastergrade. For me, Mastergrade means that it not only has consistent curl all the way across the set, but it also has a unique color or grain variation that sets it apart. Yes, I know that some folks use an “A” through “AAAAA” system, but I think that gets a little tedious. I just kind of know a Mastergrade set when I see it!

For this uke, Nan wanted a really special set of Myrtle and then asked me to decide if it should have rope binding or something simpler. It could be too busy for some folks, but I think this Myrtle with rope was a no brainer. The Oregon coast Myrtle and the California pistachio come from woodfromthewest.com and the neck is made from a piece of wormy fir that was salvaged from a barn in The Dalles, OR. It is lightly built but feels solid, with a bright but balanced tone. I heard from Nan that this uke is likely going south for the winter, safe travels!

#445- Curly Myrtle Scout Ukulele

As a player, I appreciate the small size and cheerful tone of the Scout. As a musicologist/historian, I appreciate the Scout’s reference to the Washburn Camp ukulele of the 1920’s. As a builder I appreciate the Scout as a small scale meditation on skill and perfection. Its simple design allows me to focus on my building techniques with an unusual keenness. That might be reason enough to continue building them, but I am lucky that there is also a small demand for them. It seems that we all benefit from the humble Scout. This curly Myrtle was saved from the scrap bin at Mya-Moe, the persimmon fretboard and headplate comes from Steven, a builder from Indiana and the fir neck is from an old floor board.

#428- Sycamore Alto Ukulele

This instrument is for a friend, student and loyal customer named Stephanie. She has been one of our best supporters for many years and I’m happy to get this ukulele in her hands! Sycamore seems to be a humble wood, but it makes for a balanced tone, a lightweight instrument and shows fine grain and detail up close. This sycamore, as well as the mahogany neck, came from the Carpenter Ant stash in Portland. They were originally milled for grandfather clock cases. The pistachio comes from California orchards.

“My beautiful Alto arrived late yesterday. What a gorgeous instrument. And the sound is wonderful, bright, but not too bright. Really rings when finger picking. And clawhammer sounds good too.

The attention to detail is what slays me. How everything matches and blends in the wood. That fretboard looks so cool up against the sycamore.

I was up at 6 am, playing a few tunes before breakfast. Just to make sure it sounded as great today as it did yesterday.

Thanks for the beauty and joy you bring my way.

S.S.
”

#427- Walnut and Pistachio Five String Banjo

Since I only make a handful of these per year, it sort of feels like my pace of progress is slow. But, I am quite pleased with the results. The combination of walnut and pistachio woods, the calf skin head and my custom non-steel string set make for a unique sound. It is dark and haunting, but pops and growls when you dig in. The Oregon walnut comes from Goby in Portland and the pistachio comes from California orchards. Here are the stats for the banjo nerds:

-11” walnut and pistachio block rim with calfskin head.

-25.5” scale length with truss rod in the walnut neck.

- 1/2” bridge with just over 1/8” string height at 12th fret.

-Gotoh tuners, fifth string spike, frailing scoop and Rickard brass hardware

“I wanted to thank you for this banjo. It’s a work of art. Also, sounds so sweet, especially in D tuning (to me anyway) and the sustain- wow. I love it. Congrats on some great craftsmanship.
- J.S. ”