This is a ukulele handmade in Ontario by Ray Vincent, a pioneer of alternative and imaginative ukulele design. It really is a work of art, almost improbable in its looks. I can’t imagine what goes on in the mind of someone who would be ambitious enough to make something like that… it simply looks incredible.

I will go on to what this Ray Vincent tenor ukulele is made from shortly, but just to get the nuts and bolts out of the way. It is an electro-acoustic tenor, with a chambered body. It’s tuned GCEA with a low G, with Pepe Romero strings and a La Bello smooth wound G. It has an Artec passive pickup with a volume control, 38mm nut width and comes with a black pod style case. The pickup’s jack socket is used as a strap button if you wish, and there’s a second button on the body too.

That’s a list of what it is… now onto what it’s made from. Maybe get a cup of tea before reading on and there’s lots to cover! This uke has a body made from spruce, with a top that’s constructed from Western red cedar. That top has a Fibonacci spiral made from sycamore and walnut… with the centre of that spiral being the volume knob for the pickup. It has a curly walnut back and a maple neck. The fingerboard is walnit and has a 16” radius. (Take a sip of tea now as I’m going to carry on!)

There’s a maple neck which is lovely and smooth, with the same satin finish as the rest of the instrument (Osmo oil apparently… I’ll have to look that one up!). The neck has a carbon fibre reinforcing rod inside. You then have crosscut walnut branches used for the fret markers, inlaid into the fingerboard, which is an interesting touch. My favourite though is the pine cone inlay in the headstock which I think is just beautiful - what a clever idea. It also has very precise Gotoh 510 18:1 geared tuners, which have been adapted with walnut knobs.

The sound is rich and… woody… It’s an earthy, warm tone, with some nice ring from the fluorocarbon strings as well. It plays nicely too and despite its unusual construction, doesn’t feel cumbersome or unusual to play.

The amount of work that’s gone into this instrument is astonishing. There’s so much going on, and so much to see. Even now as I think I’m getting to the end of the description of this Ray Vincent tenor electro ukulele I realise I’ve forgotten to mention the inspiration from a nautilus shell. I’ve neglected to tell you about the series of soundholes on the top. And only at the last minute recalled that I should mention the panel on the back, which can be removed to give easy access to the strings when re-stringing (it has a through bridge).

It’s taken me a while to get this advertised as it’s such an outlier in a world of very nice, but fairly standard looking instruments, that I needed time to get my head around it. It sounds good, it’s nice and playable and while yes - they’re things you want, but I don’t know if that’s what you’d buy this for (not solely at least). You’re buying a piece of art. You’re buying years of experience and experimentation from a craftsman who has come up with a fabulous design. You are most definitely buying something that will turn heads!

If you click additional information below, you’ll find a couple of demo videos with this uke, by the maker. Ray is in his workshop (mad professor’s lair?!) and provides one acoustic demo and one amplified with effects.