1950s Martin Style 0 Soprano Ukulele




Update 2017: This uke just came back in for consignment -- it came back in the same condition as it left, but now has Gotoh UPT geared pegs on it. Nice! The owner was swapping-around gear in his collection.

This very clean old Martin is a consignor's instrument and I concur with him that it's probably a mid-to-late 50s uke. All it needed was a fresh set of fluorocarbon strings, a polish, and a very light setup to get it dialed-in perfectly. It's got a bright-but-sweet sound to it that "tickles" -- if you know what I mean when talking about ukes. It's that "sun on water" sound rather than "chocolate cake." It makes a good, chipper strummer and a focused fingerpicker.



There are no cracks, the finish looks great, and there are only smaller signs of use (aside from general finish aging) on the instrument. It's also 100% original save for the strings.


Like style 0s in general, this uke has a solid mahogany body and neck, rosewood fretboard, and ebony nut and saddle.






The new Gotoh UPT tuners are excellent upgrades. They're lightweight, 4:1 ratio, keep the instrument in tune, and look good, too.









There's a bit of scuffing here and there at the endblock area.


A slightly later-than-period (60s) chip case comes with it.

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