c.1925 Harmony Soprano Ukulele

Here's an excellent all-mahogany with rosewood fretboard soprano uke, built by Harmony (the tag inside the body is missing but glue remains) probably c.1925 or so. It's first-class workmanship with super-thin and resonant top, superb mellow but loud sound, comfortable with good intonation, a cozy fretboard, and lots of details: well-grained mahogany, super-cool multicolored purfling and binding soundhole and top. It's all-original save the bridge, which I replaced with another vintage bridge of Harmony manufacture. The original bridge had been bolted iand poorly glued onto the top in some previous attempt at "repair" and the string slots were broken anyhow, due to excessive use of... yes... steel strings. Sheesh!

Nevertheless, after restoration, this uke shines. The finish is thin, original, and still gleams nicely. I've repaired a two cracks near the bridge on top (which is perfectly flat, by the way), installed a very, very light balsa brace near the bridge (to reinforce the stability of that area... no detectable decrease of volume... this one's loud!)... I've also repaired a back crack, reglued the neck area, restored the hardware, removed scuffs, minimized a few scratches, cleaned it thoroughly, etc, etc. I also had to reglue the neck/body joint.

Headstock with original tuners.

"New" vintage bridge. Discoloration around its edges was caused by the poor glue job of the previous owner. I've tried to match the color of the uke as best as possible on this new bridge.

Soundhole detail... love the binding.


Sides... finish is in excellent condition.


Side again.

Love this thin, rounded headstock. Original bakelite buttons... but I've added a couple washers each to get them to function more pleasantly.

Back... wow to that grain, huh?


Again. The back crack is on the right upper bout in this pic... not detectable unless you roll it around in the light a whole lot.

Here you can see where play has lightened up the color of the finish on the neck... and you can also see the crack that was repaired (by a previous owner) on the neck heel. Plenty strong, fortunately! Anyhow, this uke's in the store right now... constantly being picked up and strummed!