1930s Harmony-made Uke-A-Lute Soprano Ukulele

From the blurry pictures my consignor sent me of this uke over email, I thought that it might be a Favilla teardrop ukulele (see here and see here). When it came, however, it became clear right away that this is a Harmony product. It had the Harmony-style (broken) bridge when it came in, it has a doweled neck joint, and the overall construction and trim is similar to other Harmony ukes from the time.

Still, it's very interesting -- the top is solid spruce while the back and sides are birch. This gives the tone a nice "chimey" sound that has good sparkle and pop when playing chop chords and fingerpicking. I like it quite a bit -- it's unusual to have spruce on a uke from this time.

Work was a little more than average, but now that it's fixed-up it plays quick and easy.

Repairs included: a neck reset with bolt-reinforcement at the inside of the neck block, fret level/dress, cleats added for an old back crack repair, cleats/seal job to a couple if tiny hairline cracks below the bridge on the top, cut and install of a new rosewood bridge, new bone nut and saddle, relic-style Gotoh tuners added to the headstock (I can't deal with friction pegs anymore), side dots install, and a setup.

Setup notes: action is 1/16" at the 12th fret -- perfect. The neck is straight and the strings are D'Addario fluorocarbon. The new bridge loads by putting the string through holes in the top, pulling it out from the soundhole and knotting its end into a ball, and then pulling it back up snug against the bottom of the top and up to the headstock. This is called "string-through" and it's the best uke-stringing method as far as I'm concerned.

Scale length: 13 3/4"

Nut width: 1 3/8"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/16"

String spacing at bridge: 1 5/8"

Body length: 10"

Lower bout width: 7 3/4"

Side depth at endpin: 2 3/8"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid birch

Bracing type: ladder

Fretboard: none -- just on the surface of the poplar neck

Bridge: rosewood w/bone saddle

Neck feel: medium C-shape, flat board

Condition notes: it has two tiny hairline cracks (repaired) on the top below the bridge and one back-length crack on the back that's been repaired in the past. There's lots of finish wear-and-tear and scratches all over, a little extra spray paint from the stenciling job at the side of the headstock, and a little blem all around the back/side seam due to its being reglued at some point in the past. The tuners are replacements, the bridge is a replacement, and the nut and saddle are replacements.