Learning Ukulele with Curt

DIY Ukulele: Kits for Building Your Own Ukulele

USA NY

Cigar Box Papa Luthiers

Inspiration came in the Spring of 2004 when Bill (aka Papa,) with twin boys in tow, attended the first ever Cigar Box Festival in Northern Kentucky. He was amazed at the look and sound of guitars that were fabricated from simple cigar boxes. As a woodworker he knew he had the familiarity and aptitude with wood, and the passion for music to craft something real. And so it began. The genesis of Papa’s Boxes started with a simple soprano ukulele. Papa’s Boxes attended the NYC Ukulele Festival as a vendor for the first time with one simple “build it yourself” uke kit. By 2006, one of Papa’s Boxes ukuleles had been inducted into the National Cigar Box Guitar Museum. Many of our first instruments didn’t have a clear classification such as banjo, mandolin, guitar, etc. But over the course of several years and through a ton of trial and error, our growing crew at Papa’s Boxes honed and reworked the designs and began to master specific instruments. This year has ushered in an even more interesting and diverse assortment of instruments from sopranos, concerts, tenors, and baritones in the Papa’s Boxes ukulele quiver.

USA PA

Grizzley Lutherie

Since our inception in 1983, Grizzly Industrial®, Inc. has grown into one of the largest machinery companies in the United States. Our products can be found in all sizes of shops from the large industrial production users to the smaller cabinet and machine shops. We have the widest product selection under one brand in the world and we sell direct to the user, cutting out the dealer network, and resulting in lower prices to you. We ship 99% of all orders the same day and with over a million square feet of warehouse space packed with inventory in three strategic locations around the country, your order can get to you within a few days.

USA HI

Hana Lima `Ia Lutherie

We are a school for the teaching of Ukulele making to those who have both the interest and desire to build handmade ‘ukuleles.

GBR

Peter Howlett Luthiers

A prophetic photograph of me age 4 used to form the background, Bowman style, to my labels. Clutching my plastic Woolworth‘s ukulele, standing in the tartan kilt of my mother’s Scottish clan, in front of the wall my dad built, is a constant reminder that I really was born to do this job! My whole philosophy is one of care in the selection of materials and attention to detail. I learned these qualities from my toolmaker father whose exacting eye taught me to take notice of the small things. I remember when our neighbors painted their houses; it took a couple of days with a gallon can of Dulux. It always needed re-doing a couple of years later. Dad took a week applying 3 coats of Mangers lead based oil paint over 2 coats of red lead primer. He only did it once. It lasted years.

USA IN

Mainland Ukes Manufactures

We are a home grown family business dedicated to providing quality performance ukuleles at a great price. Our small company started because we love the ukulele and always enjoy meeting others who feel the same way. If you choose to buy from us, you will be buying from people who play ukulele for fun on a daily basis We take time setting up each uke to make sure you will be satisfied with your purchase.

USA CA

Ohana Ukuleles Manufactures

Welcome to "Ohana", where you will find the many hand-crafted ukulele models we offer - from soprano to baritone, mahogany to selected koa from the islands of Hawaii, conventional to vintage models, plus unique ones for those who are looking for something different.

USA OH

Stewart MacDonald's Guitar Shop Supply Lutherie

Stewart-MacDonald has the hard-to-find tools, parts, and supplies needed by builders and repair shops. With our staff of experienced luthiers, we also design and manufacture tools specifically for the needs of professional instrument makers and repair shops. Our manufacturing shop here in Ohio also creates instrument kits of particularly high quality. With woods selected and machined for accurate fit, these kits give you the materials needed to create heirloom-quality instruments.

USA HI

Ukulele Puapua Dealers

Aloha braddahs and sistahs! Come on down to our shop to see the wide variety of ukes that we get!...and maybe even one jam session!

Canada

Wolfelele Instruments

The company’s founder and instrument designer, Wolfgang Kater, began building guitars at the age of 12, and soon branched out to lutes, viola da gambas and other small, historical keyboard instruments. At the inquisitive age of six he had apprenticed an elderly gentleman who taught him cabinet-making, machining, and the use and fabrication of tools. The Wolfelele ukeleles are the results of the combination of the precision required for each of these trades, his natural artistic abilities, and his engineering mind.

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Just browsing over both books, they look fantastic! I'm a guitarist and uke player for over 25 years and was thinking about writing a ukulele book but you've already written what I think are the best, most comprehensive and thorough books I've ever seen for the instrument. I just might end up buying every book you've written and I'll be giving my highest recommendation for your books to my friends and students. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such great books!Peter Rhee

Aloha, Curt, All I can say is WOW! What you have accomplished is simply incredible! All the bestGlen Hirabayashi, The Aloha Boys

Folks, if you haven't stopped by Curt's site, do so right now! ..And get his books, they are fantastic. This guy knows his stuff and is able to pass it along too.Alan Johnson Proprietor, The 4th Peg

I can highly recommend Curt's Uke books — I have four of them and they are excellent.fatveg — Portland

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Original Curtie Animation from 1987 for my first web site on a Macintosh II, 37 years ago. Man, does time fly.

“Built for myself (Curt), and sharing with the `Ukulele community!”

LearningUkulele.com has one of the largest collections of lessons, songs, and TABS, Luthiers, ukulele builders, ukulele festival and club information, and, ukulele links on the web. Curt has been on the ®Internet since the early 1990's and This site just never stops growing!!!

Content is added and updated daily — so check back often. I really do need to get out more ;-)

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