Great Ukes | Home of Ukulele Magazine

Great Ukes is a regular column in Ukulele magazine that looks into interesting and often unusual ukuleles through history. It is usually written by the ukulele historian Sandor Nagyszalanczy.

The football-themed “Touchdown” ukulele from the 1920s with a decal just above the bridge depicting a pair of rival college players wearing hardened leather helmets and padded uniforms

The 1920s Ukulele Craze Coincided with the Rapid Rise of American Football

The rise of ukulele popularity in the 1920s coincided with the Golden Age of Spectator Sports, as shown by the vintage ukes shown here.... Read More...

Jonah Kumalae was the First Hawaiian Uke Maker to Make it Big on the Mainland

The first big windfall for Kumalae came in 1915, when he won a bid to display ukuleles in the Hawaiian Building at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.... Read More...

Great Ukes: Harmony’s Art Moderne Ukuleles were Inspired by a Popular 1930s Aesthetic

In the 1930s, Harmony created a new instrument model named for the Art Moderne design style it embodied, decorated with an array of geometrical forms.... Read More...

Regal Jungle Uke close up of body and headstock ukulele history

Great Ukes: Regal’s Jungle Uke Had Looks That Killed The Sound

Regal's Jungle Uke had a body that was completely covered in fake leopard fur fabric, making it one of the worst sounding—but coolest looking—ukuleles ever made.... Read More...

Great Ukes: The Ingenious 1920’s Tru-Fret Fingerboard

BY SANDOR NAGYSZALANCZY| FROM THE SUMMER 2020 ISSUE OF UKULELE If you asked a room full of luthiers what the most tedious part of building a ukulele is, I b... Read More...

Great Ukes: Flying High with The Lindbergh-Inspired Aero Ukulele

BY SANDOR NAGYSZALANCZY | FROM THE WINTER 2019 ISSUE OF UKULELE MAGAZINE The 50th anniversary of the first moon landing seems to have everyone thinking ab... Read More...

Great Ukes: Supertones, Smecks, and Quality Instruments at Friendly Prices

BY SANDOR NAGYSZALANCZY | FROM THE FALL 2019 ISSUE UKULELE MAGAZINE In the past few years that I’ve been writing the Great Ukes column, folks have asked me ... Read More...

gibson ukulele Older and Newer Style 3 Comparison

Great Ukes: Gibson’s Ever-Changing Ukuleles

Gibson’s first line of ukuleles, introduced in 1926, included three styles of soprano and one tenor, likely patterning their models after Martin.... Read More...

Great Ukes: The Voluptuous, Vintage Hollywood Ukulele

BY SANDOR NAGYSZALANCZY | FROM THE SPRING 2019 ISSUE OF UKULELE If you set a dozen ukes on a table face-side down, it’s usually pretty hard to tell who made the... Read More...

Cocoleles: What’s More On-Brand Than a Ukulele Made From a Coconut?

No one knows when the first ukulele with a coconut shell body was made, but Hawaiian examples of such instruments from the 1910s and ’20s are plentiful.... Read More...