Here's a glimpse of my design for my fine art Tickler Ukulele #2. As you can see, it is a pineapple shaped uke. I am all finished painting it now, so it is almost there! Built from scratch by a luthier, it has beautiful ivoroid binding around all sides, neck and headstock! Sweet. The top is spruce, the back and sides are mahogany. The neck is carved walnut. The wood is aged to perfection. Gold tuners with amber-colored buttons (I think), mother-of-toilet-seat fingerboard (pearloid), two rings of B&W rossette around sound hole, a thin strip of persimmon down the back of the neck. There is an end graft triangle of B&W ebony with an ivory border, plus an ivory "cloud" inlay on the bottom of the front (made from an old piano key). The bridge is ebony and there is an ebony cap on heel. It won't be long now (I know I promised it over a year ago, but who's counting). It just needs a few finishing touches and then I can photograph it and present it to you. I call it my hybrid Hawaiian/1920's Jazz design - featuring my trademark pierrot and a banana-skirted hula girl. My monkey in a sailor hat makes an appearance on the headstock.P.S. Look for a spring sale of Tickler uke t-shirts and other prints on my website.
New prints are coming soon.
This beautiful piano was made by Benjamin Crehore, an ancestor of mine (I think), who manufactured the first pianos in the U.S. in Milton, MA. (1915 article from the Boston Globe attesting to this: here.) Look at the pretty decoration and hand-lettering on this piano! I know there are other instruments by Benjamin Crehore in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (bass viol and piano). This rare Crehore piano is among the items the Boston Public Library will offer at auction (Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers) in the coming months.
