D & D UK-44S

Hawaiian... or Filipino?

I got this Ukulele from eBay mainly because I knew the D & D were a Hawaiian Manufacturer and I wanted a Genuine Hawaiian Ukulele. No one else was bidding so it was a bit of a bargain. It is a lovely bit of sugar mahogany, ("guaranteed air dried for at least 5 years" it says on the label), and beautifully finished. The odd thing about it though is the thickness of the Body? It's at least half as thick again as any of the other Soprano's, as you can see from the side view, and I don't know if its for this reason or because of the soundboard, (My Lâg is also a bit quiet), but it does lack acoustic volume.

D & D appear to have stopped trading in the first quarter of 2009, (which is when mine is dated as being produced), I know that when they were trading, the luthier behind the name was a chap called Edmund "Nice" Baccani and that D & D stands for Daniel and Doris, the people who owned the shop selling them. I also know that Edmund was a Filipino by birth and may have returned there after the demise of D & D, (or possibly; heaven forbid!; he never was in Hawaii and Doris and Dan lied to me?)