Oui .. Acajou... j'avais dis que je n'étais certain de rien..
Voila la description du dernier qu'il a restauré avec son avis
c.1920s Richter-made? "Schuler"
SOLID MAHOGANY ROPE-BOUND
Soprano Ukulele
Plays great, sounds fabulous, good volume and projection!
I love these little guys... I keep an identical model up in
the bedroom for midnight lullabies.
HEAR IT BELOW:
!
S O, WHAT IS IT?
This uke has a Schuler brand label in the soundhole but I've known most of this model and its similarly-built cousins to have been labeled or stamped Richter Manufacturing. The history is cloudy on Richter but at any rate, in the early 1920s, there were a number of this body style/build style built in various woods.
This particular model is one I've worked on three times before and each one has been a top-notch little uke. They're feather-light, all-solid mahogany body (neck possibly poplar or similar hardwood w/dark stain?), and feature Hawaiian-style rope binding and rope soundhole inlay. The body is slightly narrower than a typical soprano uke with a great hourglassy folky look to them. The woods are extremely thin so they're incredibly resonant and responsive. This means tone, tone, tone and great volume for their size.
My work on this uke included a neck reset, bridge reglue and installation of a new bone saddle, fret work (cleaning, slight reseating on a few), installation of new Grover friction tuners, and setup. New Martin fluorocarbon strings are installed. It plays great, sounds great, and looks great. What more could you ask?
Aside from the bridge saddle and tuners it's entirely original with a nice worn-in, warm chocolate-toned satin finish.
F EATURES, YOU SAY?
Woods: solid mahogany throughout. Rope (contrasting wood) binding and inlay. Neck is possibly poplar or similar hardwood with darker stain.
Fittings: new Grover tuners, original bridge with new bone saddle. Original wooden nut.
Decorations: sweet chocolate-toned mahogany with satiny original finish, awesome Hawaiian-style rope binding on top edge and as a soundhole rosette (inlaid).
Sound: warm, bell-like, snappy, and sweet. Nice and rich. Great fingerpicker or strummer.
A NY ISSUES?
Bridge: reglued, with new bone saddle (slotted) to correct string path (the original slots were set too wide for the neck).
Frets: one replaced fret (12th) with vintage parts-bin fret.
Cracks: prev. repaired long hairline crack on treble side of uke (on side, not top). Good and stable.
D IMENSIONS?
Length: 20"
Width: 6"
Depth: 2 1/8"
Scale: 13"
Nut: 1 3/8"
Action @ 12th fret: 1/8"
