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Here is a Madeiran instrument in the case. It is a simple wooden box, with corners made with a rabbet joint and nailed together. The lining is some simple velvet or thin felt. Notice that the instrument is basically pitched in place at the nut, with the lid of the case pushing against the nut to trap it in place. There are tiny brass hinges, a lock and a handle that could have come from a luggage supplier.

Here is one from my favorite of the early builders, Jose do Espírito Santo. It is almost identical, but is tapered instead of rectangular. It also pinches the instrument at the tuning pegs, which you can see by the wear on the fabric. The lining is a thicker velvet.

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Our loft was put in by the previous owner was used to store engines and car parts, so it is stout. The back few feet of it is open, so I thought we could tuck it here. This was a perfect job for an 11 year old boy who doesn’t mind getting dirty, as it is a tight space.

Notice that we tried to put a little space around each surface of the neck blank, so air can move freely. I was able to point our box fan up there, which I will run from time to time. We also have a ceiling fan a few feet away and a circulating air filter for dust, which should all help to dry it evenly.

Lastly, I planed a few blanks to show the diversity of color. I think the dark one will be a rarity, most are a pale pink, cream color. It is lovely, straight grain wood that will make a stable neck.

Thanks for keeping the lights on…

A

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Nicole and I are the artistic directors of two music camps, Menucha Ukulele Bandcamp and Port Townsend Ukulele Festival. I have gotten into the habit of bringing a mobile luthier setup to these events. I intend on just doing work like strap buttons and string changes, but other stuff always comes up. Many people save their instruments to bring to me to look at, whether for regular maintenance or estimates of future work. I put out Venmo and paypal QR codes, but also take cash and barter. Folks usually pay more than I ask because they appreciate the service. I also like checking in with instruments that I built in the past. It gives me important info on past decisions and designs.

Here is a list of everything I got done last week:

Endpin installation: 1

Strap button installation: 6

String set installation: 5

Single string change: 3

Pickup installation: 1

File nut slots: 2

Add side dots: 2

Dress fret ends: 1

Instrument checkups: 7

Tighten banjo head: 2

Tuning machine replacement: 1

Here are two instruments that I enjoyed working on:

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The pallet was wrapped with a piece of carpet, two beefy tie downs and some plastic. I think it rained while we were gone, but it didn’t really matter as these were green from the tree already. Henry and I unwrapped it all and snapped these photos. The ends have been painted with glue to help stop cracking. This is because wood dries out faster from the end than the sides. It helps to imagine a piece of wood like a bundle of straws and the glue seals them up so the moisture can escape evenly.

The current moisture content is around 25%, which is what I suspected. I can’t use it till it is below 10%, which will be the fall at the earliest, likely later. For now, it is sitting outside till Larry can come over to stack it in the loft of the shop to dry. I might even use a fan to keep the air moving up there.

The moisture meter estimates water content by sending an electric signal through the wood, picked up by two probes. It can’t sense the water deep in a thick board, but it is the best a small shop like mine is likely to own.

Thanks for keeping the lights on…

A

I probably did this task for 45 minutes, twice this week, and my hands were really painful each night.

Last night, I dreamed about a YouTube video I saw of a Japanese craftsman fitting the skin on a Shamisen body. He held the skin with these little wooden clamps, held tightly with a wedge. In my dream, I took one of these clamps and pinched the sand paper in it, so I could pull on the clamp itself, instead of trying to deathgrip the sandpaper with my thumb and finger. Here is the video, well worth the watch. Since it’s a short, substack won’t let me embed it, but this link should click through.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Jfv43r1U4aI?si=I-lQ4xiPYLJqI5rC

First, I went to my box of orphan handles and chose a short one, with a smooth, round shape.

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Marianne recently reminded me that I sometimes start series on here that never get finished. In particular, she was asking for the final chapter story about the Mya-Moe for the Langley student I was working on. It turns out that I finished it, got paid and shipped it back without updating here. Sorry about that.

Hopefully I can keep better track of such things in the future.

In the Mya-Moe days, Gordon bought 3”x3”x36” Mahogany neck blanks, milled, sorted, dried and ready to use. He paid a big premium for this, but it saved us a lot of labor. For the last 8 years of Beansprout, I have been piecing together necks from whatever boards I happened to mill or salvage that are suitable, usually with a hardwood stripe or two running down them. This has been a part of the visual identity of the brand, with the contrasting stripe going down the back of the neck. But, every neck is a one-off, with different dimensions and properties, which caused a lot more labor and variability in the final product. It has suited my willingness to spend labor instead of money, but this may need updating as my body gets older.

In the last year, I have been able to use some 3”x3” neck blanks of Fir, Alder and Mahogany that were a joy to use. I didn’t have to glue them up, mill them so the stripe is plumb nor make sure the stripe stays down the center as the instrument moves along. Kevin from woodfromthewest.com heard me comment about how much I liked the Alder neck on #1000 (pictured above) and went out of his way to find a log for me. Alder is outside of the scope of many of the Western timber outfits, because it is not as profitable as other premium hardwoods and is generally just a “trash” tree around the Fir, Pine, Spruce mix they are looking for. Kevin says it is generally turned into pulp or sawdust and SHIPPED ALL THE WAY TO CHINA!!!!! That’s right, we use our fossil fuels for that too.

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Kilin Reece just posted that a friend of his named Kealoha Wong found three tracks that Kekuku recorded with an African-American duo called Layton and Johnstone. (Their story is incredible, including some amazing intersections of class, race and nationality along with the music.) Of the three tracks, the only one with Keech is "I’ll See You In My Dreams.” You have to be on Spotify to listen, sorry about that, but it’s worth it. The embedded player below is only a sample, but I think if you click through to Spotify you can hear it all.

I love that we finally get to hear Keech play his syncopated banjo uke along with Kekuku’s steel guitar so well recorded. It really is an interesting mixture of the pop music of the day and Hawaiian music traditions.

Thanks for keeping the lights on…

A

The most common “Cedar” for instrument making is Western Red Cedar. On the west coast, we also have various other “Cedars” that are also good, including Port Orford Cedar, Monterrey Cypress and Alaskan Yellow Cedar. All three of the related yellow woods sound about the same: bright, vibrant and detailed. I like this top because of the blue streaks that are in it. It’s from a stump my friend Ben dropped off, milled from a tree on the Washington side of the Columbia river. The Walnut is some rich, colorful stuff that I milled from a Hood River tree. I topped it off with some Pistachio from California orchards and shop made rope binding. Thanks Pat!

Katie is the manager of a downtown boutique in Hood River called Twiggs. Her husband Nate owns Dog River Coffee, our favorite coffee spot. He also is a talented leather worker and has answered a…

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I first wrote about this prototype on March 14, 2025, almost a year ago. I spent a little time working out the tailpiece and end bolt, but it has spent the rest of the year hanging on the wall. My friend Preston, who I play Magic” The Gathering” with, said, “I like coming in the shop, because there is always something new to look at.” I responded, “If there was nothing new to look at, I would be out of business!” Despite that statement, this banjo friend has not gotten any love in months.

I decided to string it up yesterday for two reasons: First, two banjo friends have been in the shop recently and seem interested in it. Second, our future orders seem to be swinging towards more banjos than ukes for the first time ever, so it seems having another banjo model might be a good idea.

So far, it sounds really good. A mixture between a classical guitar and a banjo, just as I was hoping. Hopefully this month I can get it finished and I will tell you all about it here.

Thanks for keeping the lights on…

A

In the pa…

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Hello Beansprout Friends and Family,

Thank you to those of you who attended our 1000th instrument party on Zoom. It was so wonderful to gather together to share music, Beansprout history and our art with you.

Just a quick instrument update:

We currently have two instruments for sale in our shop right now.

The first is a one of a kind scout ukulele made from shop scraps, and the other is a beautiful tenor Koa ukulele.

We will be donating to a worthy causes for the purchase of each instrument and you can read about this below.

Lastly, our family and business are built upon the principles of kindness, inclusion and love. Our hearts are with our immigrant neighbors and all who are struggling right now.

Sincerely,

Nicole, Aaron and Henry

Scout Ukulele for Sale

Aaron builds scout ukuleles using shop scraps when he has time in his schedule. Our scout model is based off the Lyon and Healy Camp uke from the 1920’s.

We currently have a scout for sale that is made from Port Orford Cedar, Walnut and Hemlock. It’s available for $900 plus shipping. We will be donating a portion of the sale to the Hood River Latino Network.

To read more about the scout features and hear a sound sample,

click here:

Builder’s Choice Koa Tenor Ukulele

Aaron built this beautiful tenor ukulele with a one piece Koa body, a Pistachio fretboard, head plate, and bridge, and a Mahogany neck. As you can also see, it has Pistachio binding that changes colors around the body. Super unique! It includes a K&K pickup and comes with a hard-shell case.

Aaron doesn’t use a lot of tropical woods in his builds, but when he does they are always salvaged woods that he stumbles upon. This Koa came to him when a local luthier moved away and literally left the boards on our porch! We will be donating a portion of the proceeds from this sale to the Hawai’i Food Bank

To read more about its features and to hear a sound sample, click here:

We have [TWO] build slots

for ukuleles/tenor guitars/Kingdom Era Ukuleles in

September 2026

We have [ONE] build slot for a banjo or banjo uke

in December 2026

To place your deposit and reserve your build slot, please click here.

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