c.1950 Favilla Mahogany Soprano Ukulele

Essentially a Martin style 0 clone, this Favilla soprano is all-solid mahogany with a rosewood board, nut, and saddle. It's lightweight, has that nice Martin-y wider-body soprano shape, a comfortable neck with plenty of room to stretch the fingers, and of course has great tone as that's what Favillas are all about. Quality-wise, I consider these somewhere between Gretsch mahogany soprano ukes of the time and Martins and leaning toward the nicer end of that spectrum.

Work included a bridge reglue, fret level/dressing, setup, a couple cleats to some tight back hairline cracks, and cleaning. It plays like a champ, what else can I say? These Favillas usually shape up nicely.

This is a pretty clean uke but it does have a bit of playwear especially around the soundhole where there's some scratching from someone using a pick.

The rosewood saddle inset in the mahogany bridge is a nice touch. These are Martin fluorocarbon strings and they sound just fine. I'd imagine this would be a little louder and more sprightly with Aquilas or similar. It's bell-like and sweet with these.

Good gold Favilla logo. The original friction pegs work just fine as well.

Cream dots in the board.

I like that simple one-ring rosette.

Favilla was clearly going after the Martin look and design when making these.

Good-quality mahogany is used throughout and the finish is a thin satin type.

It's hard to see the hairline cracks as they're repaired but they're right next to the sides of the waist. There are two smaller (1-2") ones right next to the waist and then one longer (3"-ish) one slightly inset from the waist. All are cleated, filled, or stabilized as needed.

Nothing much to say but: a good, practical, sweet-sounding little uke!