January, 2025 This is my first lute build. It’s based on the Georg Gerle Lute housed in the Kunsthistorische Museum In Vienna. The original was built in the 1560s as a 6-couse instrument with Ivory ribs. My version uses Mahogany for the ribs, a Carpathian Spruce top, a Macassar Ebony fingerboard with neck and pegbox veneers of Macassar Ebony and… (more…)
Category Archives: News
2023 “HIGH” BARITONE UKULELES
What is a “High” Baritone Ukulele? Normal Baritone Ukuleles are tuned like the top four strings of a guitar–DGBE–and have a string length that is generally 19″ to 21″ or more. Over the years, I have found baritone ukuleles sound better if they are strung with tenor ukulele strings and tuned up a third to FBbDG, which gives a brighter… (more…)
Renaissance Guitar Build 2021
This is my first Renaissance Guitar build and a really different challenge for me. We know very little about how these instruments were constructed, but we do know they were very popular, and quite a lot of music survives. We know that the Renaissance Guitar had 4-courses of strings with the lower courses in pairs and the top string a… (more…)
Medieval Fiddle/Vielle
A new type of build for 2019. This medieval bowed-string instrument was commissioned by my long time friend and virtuoso violinist, David Douglass. The back and sides are Walnut, Spruce top, Ebony tuning pegs, fingerboard, and tailpiece, with Ovangkol veneers.
Ziricote Baritone Ukulele
This Baritone Uke features some stunning Ziricote for the back and sides, a torrefied Sitka Spruce top, Macassar Ebony fingerboard, bridge, and head plate, Curly Koa Bindings and Sound Hole ring, and a slotted headstock and Rubner tuners.
Long-Neck Soprano with Cardinal Inlay
Recently completed in early 2017, here’s a Long-Neck Soprano Ukulele (soprano body with a concert neck and scale) made of Claro Walnut (back and sides), Lutz Spruce (top), Mahogany (neck), Koa (binding and sound hole ring), and Indian Rosewood (fingerboard and bridge) with Grover Gold open-back tuners. The instrument features a special inlay of a male Cardinal perched on a… (more…)
Grit Laskin Inlay Design Class
I spent six days this summer (July 2012) at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Greenwood, Indiana with 11 other guitar builders in a class that focused on designing guitar inlays taught by Grit Laskin. His inlays are works of art and tell stories rather than just being decorative. Although we spent some time practicing our inlay and engraving… (more…)
- Hand-Crafted Guitars and Ukuleles by Kevin Mason
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