Badgers Head

When I saw this I thought it looked quite pretty with its contrasting 3 tone veneer and wondered if it was made from scratch or not? I asked the maker and he told me that it started out as a kit Ukulele that he built and customised with a teak, walnut and beech veneer; so not quite from scratch but still very interesting and individual. It also had a very low starting price on its eBay auction, less than half the price of the cheapest Ukulele kit I can think of, and as I thought it looked interesting I decided to send out a small invitation. You never know it might not attract a lot more interest and he also put a more showy, (but to my mind less well veneered), one at the same starting price. As it happened I was pretty much right with only one other bid, and a small one at that, so the invitation was accepted. Speaking to the maker again I found out that this is actually his third prototype and that if they take off and he makes more, (he never did), he will officially brand the range Badgers Head, (this one does have a small badgers head logo on the rear of the headstock so can be considered as part of the brand). When it gets here I hope that it is as nicely done as it looks from the pictures and that he has done a good job building the base kit; however I shall see.

It's here now and it's ok, a little more of a matt finish than I was expecting, (especially on the back of the neck), and it smells very strongly of glue, but it all seems competently put together. It all looks solid and there are no cracks or badly fitted veneer. The action is a little high for my taste but this does make it a good ukulele for figure picking; and it's not so high as to be a problem. It is also as pretty as it's pictures suggest and it does have a badgers head stamp on the back of the headstock.

Sadly it didn't take long before the bridge went "Clooongg!!" so perhaps not as well made as I had hoped.