c.1955 Harmony Blue Palm Trees Ukulele

Nothing says "surf's up!" like low-budget Chicago. This painted-blue, faux-binding, faux-fretboard (it's plastic!) uke was made by Harmony around 1955-1960 and sounds and plays like the real thing, though you might not expect it to.

Work included a neck reset, light setup, and seam repairs. After a bit of spit-n-polish and a few tightened screws on the tuners and it was up and running.

Nice sound, all-solid birch, unbraced top, and cute. Not to mention -- sturdy! These are great take-anywhere ukes and, yes, they sound great over the phone, too, as a customer found out while I was tuning it up while talking to him.

The paint and stencil are both in good shape. Though the bridge was (originally) glued slightly askew, intonation seems to not suffer.

This has the 50s Harmony label at the headstock with "space age" tuners.

Curiously enough, I've never had trouble with these funny space-age Harmony friction tuners.

Careful, Jake, don't let this luau-crashing fella get too close to that firepit!