1960s Favilla Baritone Ukulele

A customer brought this in for some setup work yesterday and it's, by far, the cleanest Favilla (New York-made) bari I've ever had in the shop. It's like it was built a few years ago instead of the early 60s (as its build, finish, and label style suggest). By now, blog readers will also know that I'm over the moon about Favilla uke products and their baris are my favorites of the type. Really good Favilla baris will have a vaguely flamenco-sounding, thrummy tone that has a full, but airy, bass.

Work included a new nut and saddle and a bridge (saddle area) shave to get the action down.

I replaced the original plastic nut with bone as a matter of course -- they're more fuss to slot correctly (the stuff melts as you file it) than it is to just replace it and slot a nicer nut.

While the frets could've used a level/dress to remove a tiny bit of warp in frets 1-5, it didn't really need it so we didn't do the job.

The saddle area came down and I installed a new, ebony saddle in place of the original plastic. The guy who'll be playing this was looking for warmth and bass-end response, and ebony certainly trumps bone for that objective.

No cracks, few scratches, and just... gorgeous. Like all Favilla baris, this is made entirely from solid mahogany with a rosewood bridge and board.

The original, red-plush, chip case was along with it. No wonder it's so clean!