Circa 1927 Royal Hawaiian Pineapple Koa Soprano Ukulele

Description

Since the label reads "Genuine Koa Wood" ROYAL HAWAIIAN "Made In Hawaii" and in tiny letters at the bottom "copyright 1927" it's safe to assume that this uke is from the late 1920s or early '30s, before the uke craze had faded. We’re not sure who actually built this ukulele but we’re sure it wasn’t Kamaka even though it has a sort of pineapple-shaped body, a style that Kamaka invented. It's possible that it was sold in the gift shop at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, as they sold quite a few ukuleles, but again, we just don't know for sure.This thing won the "dirtiest uke we've ever seen" award when it landed here, and although Ira Wheeler carefully added his name to the back of the headstock good ol' Ira apparently never washed his hands before he played it. We're selling this on eBay because we don't have time to fix the 6 cracks and the loose back brace just below the sound hole. String action isn't bad at all, and the bridge appears to still be glued to the top, but the tuners need to be replaced.
We cleaned the worst dirt off the body, and cleaned the edges of the headstock so you can see what it will look like when the cleaning is finished. The fingerboard is a mess from the dirt but since it was finished along with the rest of the uke you can see it will clean up nicely.  All 12 frets are seated in the neck, but the fret ends protrude (from the wood shrinking) and will need to be filed. Yes, this was made with genuine koa throughout, and it has a cool folk instrument vibe. With the addition of some decent tuners and a new set of strings this would be playable, even if you didn't fix the cracks, but you might need a tetanus shot if you don't finish cleaning it! (the two sides of the cracks all line up with a little effort and there are no pieces missing) There is no case but we'll pack it securely for shipment.
We ship on the Tuesday following the end of the Sunday auctions.