MY Ukelele

I don't consider myself to be much of musician, except that I do appreciate it a lot. I come from a family of musicians, but when it came to dishing out musical ability to me, I got the short end of the stick. The rest of my family came out ahead. I wish I had a great voice to sing with, but it's always off key. When our family gets together at home in Hawaii, it is mandatory that everyone bring their guitars and ukeleles. My dad has made up many songbooks over the years with words and the chords to play along with. If you don't play and instrument, you still hang out and sing. Of course, we eat first! Then we clear away everything and play and sing for the next few hours. We've being doing this as long as I can remember. Somewhere along the line I learned how to play the ukelele. I'm good at playing in the safety and comfort of a group; never do any solo work. Anyway, call it mid-life crisis, but last August I got the nerve together to order myself a custom made ukelele at a place here in town (Albuquerque) that are known world-wide for their hand-made guitars. Mind you, my ability is not good enough to warrant such a fine instrument, but I went for it anyway. I picked it up today and couldn't wait to get home to play it. The feel and sound is beautiful. The uke was made by Pimentel & Sons and they went all out on this one. There are 4 kinds of wood: rosewood, ebony, elderman spruce and a bird's eye maple. Herringbone pattern up the back, abalone inlay on the front and bridge, a turquoise inlay of a honu (Hawaiian sea turtle) down by the pegs. OK, I don't know the technical name for that. Maybe it is called pegs! Thanks Rick, Vic, Robert and the rest of the gang (it's a family run business). You can see what they do at: www.pimentelguitars.com WOW!