This is a gorgeous handmade ukulele from Martin van Humbeck, a luthier from Vancouver Island. Martin is one of the world’s top builders, producing incredible instruments that are both beautiful to look at, a joy to play, and sonically brilliant. This is his 200th build, and he’s gone for something very special, with rainbow cedar top and 5A grade koa back and sides. Every possible detail and visual enhancement you can get with a ukulele is present and execututed to perfection. It oozes quality, demonstrates outstanding craftsmanship and comes with top quality hardwear, pro-level pickup and superb hard case. The only problem when writing about it is where to start!

What I will say, before going on, is that it sounds fantastic. Rich and warm where it needs to be, with bell-like clarity for individual notes. A gorgeous, full-sounding chime when strummed. That’s the main thing, that it sounds great. It does. Sound great.

Right… what’s it made from? The top is solid red cedar, and the back and sides are made from solid 5A Hawaiian koa - a very expensive and beautiful set indeed. The binding is made from snakewood from Suriname, while the neck is mahogany, reinforced with a carbon fibre rod. The bridge and fingerboard are striped Macassar ebony. Inside, there is sitka spruce x bracing.

In terms of decoration, the sound hole inlays are made from spalted bird’s eye maple burl, Paua abalone and more of that handsome snakewood. The headplate is ebony, with a mother of pearl logo and lily inlays also made from two types of mother of pearl. The tail graft is more maple burl, again linking the various decorations together with use of the same materials. Oh and the back of the headstock is faced with more of that koa too. Finally, an intricate side soundport (with reinforcement behind the scenes, so it’s not too delicate - even if it looks it!)

This Martin Beck tenor uke has a 36.5mm nut width, with bone nut and compensated saddle. It has mother of pearl position markers on the fretboard and side of the neck. It is fitted with a low G (a Fremont) and Worth Clears for the C, E and A strings. The tuners are Gotoh SGi510 super minis with cocobolo buttons. It also has a 16” radius on the fretboard.

In terms of the finish, the body and headstock have a flawless nitrocellulose lacquer, while the back of the neck is finished with tru-oil, for a smoother hand feel (handy for those who struggle with regular gloss finish necks).

Finishing things off there’s a white, superb quality Crossrock hard case, and a Mi-Si Acoustic Trio active pickup.

Every aspect of this ukulele, Martin’s 200th build, was designed to showcase his skills and become the pinnacle of his work to date. Given his instruments have previously scored 9.6 out of 10 on Got A Ukulele, equalling the highest ever score given to a ukulele reviewed there, I wonder what this one would get! I am not sure we’ll ever find out as I don’t want to let it out of my sight!

So, one of the best ukuleles in the world. From one of the finest makers in the world. And yes, it carries a price tag. But taking that into context. The pickup would cost £195. The tuners would cost £80. The strings £10. The fibreglass case £160. The materials… well I didn’t ask for a breakdown but the koa alone cost close to £400. Add in the rest of the materials and we’re looking at well over £1,000 just for a pile of wood and some strings and tuners in a hard case! It took 120 hours to make. When you divide the hours by the amount Martin makes from the instrument - by my rough calculation he just about makes the living wage. And that’s not factoring in the years of study, experimentation and learning required to get to this standard.

If you click additional info below there’s a video demo of this Martin Beck tenor ukulele, plus an interview with the builder and demonstrations to some of his other builds.