2010s Antonio Tsai (Vietnam) Acacia Soprano Ukulele
Antonio Tsai's shop in Vietnam is famous for pearl-encrusted, over-the-top instruments. They all come to the US, pretty-much, through eBay via late-night, drunken ordering. At least that's my working theory.
They've got a lot of "bang for buck" but the build tolerances are usually... not tight. Some of them hold-up fine and remain stable when they hit our shores while others go through crazy humidity/dryness failures. The ukes, for the most part, seem to relocate nicely. It's the guitars you really have to watch-out for.
This pretty little soprano uke is made from acacia which gives it a mahogany/koa look and sound. It's a little overbuilt and so its out-front voice is nice but the player hear's a much-thinner sound while in the driver's seat. It has a rosewood fretboard and bridge, satin finish, and nice little hand-cut and fit pearl embellishments.
The neck is big and rather deep for a uke but that does give it some interest. The owner actually sanded the back of it, though, to keep its finish from gumming-up on his hand in the hotter months. I've buffed that out a little bit and sealed it.
After tweaks, it plays quick and easy.
The string-mount design is a "modern" thing -- string-through mounting. To use this, the player installs the string by threading it through the hole in the top of the bridge, pulling it out of the soundhole, knotting the ends into ball-ends, and then pulling the string back snug and then up to the tuner.
Repairs included: new bone saddle (slot relocation for better intonation), setup.
Condition notes: it's crack-free and cleanish but does have a replaced saddle and minor scuffs/scrapes here and there in the body and neck. The back of the neck had been sanded free of finish but I buffed it up a bit and sealed it with a layer of wipe-on poly. It has friction pegs (slightly fussy as they need to be tightened now and then) rather than geared tuners, though at a ~$30ish upgrade I'd install a set of GraphTech Tune-A-Lele pegs.
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