1920s Southern California Music Company Mahogany Ukulele




I'm pretty sure I sold this uke to my friend Rick way back in 2009 or so. It has a mahogany body, mahogany neck, and a Southern California Music Co label in the soundhole with a "Hawaii" decal at the headstock. I'm also pretty certain the uke itself was made by Regal for the company and it even has the normal Chicago-style doweled neck joint in the box.

He's used it for a long time and even had me put a K&K pickup in it for stage use. I just recently got it back in trade from him and only had to do minimal work to get it up and going again. It has a chipper, clean, bright, sweet sound to it and instantly recalls island-style Kumalaes and the like. It also has the older "neck is the fretboard" design style, so the strings sit low over the face of the instrument and the best place to play is over the 10th fret or above the soundhole. This means it's best-suited to traditional playing styles -- by which I mean fancy chord-strumming rather than individual-note picking, though a player used to old ukes and this design style can fingerpick on these with no issues.

Repairs included: previously a neck reset and fret level/dress as well as seam repairs. Recently that's included a bridge shave, new fret-style saddle, new strings, and string-through modification of the bridge (you pass the string through a hole to the inside, pull it up through the soundhole, knot it up into a ball, and then pull said ball back tight up under the top).

Setup notes: it plays on-the-dot with hair-above 1/16" action at the 12th fret. The neck is straight and I've added side dots for frets 3, 5, and 7. Strings are D'Addario fluorocarbon and sound great. The tuners are 1920s banjo friction pegs and hold pitch well, though if you're into geared pegs I could install your preference at cost.

Scale length: 13"
Nut width: 1 7/16"
String spacing at nut: 1 3/16"
String spacing at bridge: 1 3/4"
Body length: 9"
Lower bout width: 6 1/8"
Waist width: 3 3/4"
Upper bout width: 5"
Side depth at endpin: 2 3/16"
Top wood: solid mahogany
Back/sides wood: solid mahogany
Neck wood: mahogany
Bracing type: ladder
Fretboard: same as neck, mahogany
Bridge: maple with stain and fret saddle
Neck feel: slim soft-V shape, flat board

Condition notes: there are no cracks on the top but there is a tiny little repaired crack at the side/waist that looks like it might've been a factory patch-up when bending the sides (hah hah) and there's a repaired, small (impossible to photo as it just looks like grain) tight hairline crack on the back. It has a K&K pickup installed and a jack at the "endpin" area that's flush to the body. There's average usewear throughout the instrument and one scuffed corner on the lower-bout-top where the finish has been rubbed-down a bit.














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