1920s Lyon & Healy "Camp" Ukulele

I've worked on numerous Camp Ukes and this one is the most-seen iteration of the model. It has a round, solid nyssa (black gum/tupelo) body mated to a banjo-uke-like neck with a single bolt. The tone is what you'd expect, too -- a little boxy and compressed, with a nice "tight" focus to it. The extra frets and access mean you can reach some interesting up-the-neck chords, too. The strings on it are what seem to be something like D'Addario Titaniums, though I'd bet this would sound a little sweeter and cleaner with fluorocarbons.

There was old work done on this including seam repairs and a glue-job to the neck which meant I couldn't remove it and reset its angle. Fortunately, in a sense, the bridge's saddle was located incorrectly too forward so I solved the action height issue via modifying on that end. Other work included a fret level/dress, some cleats to hairline top cracks, and installation of Gotoh 4:1 geared pegs. It's a nice, cozy little uke to play... now... with all the modern conveniences!

The nyssa wood is neat stuff and it's most-often seen on Lyon & Healy products from this time.

The board has original brass frets and black, celluloid dots.

The "smile" bridges are a nice design element on L&H products.

Here you can see how I've recut the front edge of the bridge to move the break-point of the "saddle" area farther aft so it plays in-tune up the neck. I then slotted-down the string path just a hair in a fashion that Knutsen and Kamaka used in the '20s/'30s for their own uke bridges.

Gotoh UPTs are nice to have!