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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
 Posted - 07/27/2011 : 09:41:25 AM
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Wondering if anyone knows who built Eddie Kamae's 2-hole baritone, and if anyone is making them today? Please see this pic so you know what I mean:
EDIT: I am getting answers over at ukuleleunderground - seems it's Eddie's own design!
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It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
Edited by - Mike Anderson on 07/28/2011 09:43:41 AM |
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DeVineGuitars
Aloha
10 Posts |
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2011 : 07:33:25 AM
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Not really. Just one guy, a uke maker himself, saying "it's an Eddie Kamae". So no idea (and I asked) if Eddie designed and built it, or just requested a certain design.
The thread veered off into who makes similar instruments, and so far the only maker of a two-puka baritone I can find is Mele:
http://www.meleukulele.com/shopexd.asp?id=379&bc=no
Pretty sweet actually! |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
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Pmahany
Akahai
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2011 : 6:55:10 PM
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| When I talked to Eddie about it, this is what he said. He had it made in the pattern of the old style baccaragas, (sorry about the spelling}. He was a bit cagey about the dimensions since he didn't seem to want just any one trying to reproducing it. Who made it I don't know. I think you'd have to agree that Eddie's style's really works through that instrument. Beautiful. |
Honokowai Pete |
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2011 : 06:12:50 AM
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Hmm, interesting about the dimensions, isn't it? That thing is pretty huge even for a baritone. Does his style work with it? Hell yeah!
About the instrument it was modeled after - do you mean the braguinha? Because they were and are pretty tiny (video has a long intro):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pujpr3lN36U&feature=related |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
Edited by - Mike Anderson on 08/02/2011 06:17:14 AM |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2153 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2011 : 2:31:33 PM
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| Slipry1 and I talked to Uncle Eddie a few years back about it. Custom built, low string is an F, so FBbDG. |
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2011 : 3:18:33 PM
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| Thanks thumbstruck. The only info in the book "Hawaiian Son" is some nonsense about him switching from a standard concert 'ukulele to one having "8 strings in 2 courses". Seems there was some miscommunication between Mr. Kamae and the author. |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
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basilking
Lokahi
124 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2011 : 6:09:20 PM
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"8 strings in 2 courses" seems an incomplete description of a taropatch ukulele. "8 strings in doubled courses" might be "better".
I don't know his history well but it's possible Eddie played a taropatch at one time or another. Also possible [like some other old-school musicians] he's prone to be less-than-forthcoming about his "trade secrets", dunno about that either.
I DO know the one time I met him he was very nice. The two-holed uke he was playing looked to me as if made by whomever made a two-holed guitar Keola plays but I didn't think to ask. |
Edited by - basilking on 08/24/2011 6:22:38 PM |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2011 : 06:35:35 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Mike Anderson
Hmm, interesting about the dimensions, isn't it? That thing is pretty huge even for a baritone. Does his style work with it? Hell yeah!
About the instrument it was modeled after - do you mean the braguinha? Because they were and are pretty tiny (video has a long intro):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pujpr3lN36U&feature=related
Very interesting! The tuning shown in the film is an open G chord; from low to high, D G B D. I wonder how the ukulele got to it's tuning, G C E A, with the G higher than the E, except for tenor ukes, where it is low. Very lovely sounding instrument!
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keaka |
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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2011 : 08:56:57 AM
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| ʻThat uke appeared about the time the Sons were playing at Territorial Tavern. It may have been influenced by Keola Beamerʻs guitars which, at the time were built at the Guitar and Lute workshop where Keola taught slack key and classical guitar before performance commitments forced him to stop. I always assumed Eddieʻs uke might have been built there too. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2011 : 11:10:44 AM
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noeau, that is great info, thank you! basilking, I'd thought about that but I too have no idea if he's ever been involved with taropatch 'ukulele. slipry1, my understanding is that the 'ukulele did not evolve from the braguinha, but from the machete, aka machete da rajao, aka rajao, aka machete de braga. The terminology on these Portuguese imports seems kinda changeable. My question on braguinha had to do with the "baccaraga" note from Pmahany.
Here's John King playing an extraordinary one-of-a-kind repro of a machete by Dave Means of Glyph ukuleles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeJ5Cj4-KVI. There are two more videos from this concert. You can see pictures of the instrument here: http://www.glyphukulele.com/baritonesandother.html and read John King's article about the original here: http://www.nalu-music.com/notes-of-a-sub-sub-librarian/.
Interestingly, here is a photo with 'ukulele and machete da rajao in the same picture:
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So it seems these instruments were still in use in their original Portuguese form in Hawaii in the early 20th century!
Anyway as far as Portuguese stringed instruments in Hawaii goes, the U of Hawaii Press is due to publish "The `Ukulele: A History by Jim Tranquada and John King" May 2012 (I contacted them to confirm this), so we can all benefit from his devotion and research and maybe get clarification on a lot of long-standing questions. |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
Edited by - Mike Anderson on 08/25/2011 12:29:38 PM |
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basilking
Lokahi
124 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2011 : 1:09:33 PM
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Mike, no expert here. that said, all info I've ever seen suggests that "Machete De Braga", "Machete", "Braguinha", & "Cavaquinho" ALL refer to Portuguese/Azorean instruments that likely influenced the 1st ukulele builders. The "Tiple" also seems related. I got a Martin tiple in Honolulu long ago, knew scant about it but was by inspection pretty much "a 10-string ukulele-type-instr". Steel strings, middle two courses tripled, blah blah, but that's my 30-years-ago impression. That tiple was hard to wrap my head around due to the octave-DOWN middle courses, it's been replaced by a '20s Martin taropatch/8-str that somehow I CAN wrap my head or ears around. Thanks for the heads-up on the forthcoming book - we'll all learn plenty I'd suspect.
One last note - there weren't many, but ~1899-`1900 there was a Puerto Rican diaspora to Hawai`i. PR was devastated by a hurricane that winter, a number of workers were brought in by Castle/Cook, Dole, etc. They brought music and literature with them, including the Cuatro, a typically 4-stringed uke-like instrument. I've seen 5 and 10-stringed Cuatros as well. The name derives from the original tuning in 4ths. I tuned my 10-str Cuatro to 5/6 of a 12-string. I'm no expert in this arena but my Puerto Rican - Hawai`ian mother-in-law literally "wrote the book" on this history. Sorry for diversion from Eddie's-uke-discussion.
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2011 : 1:30:52 PM
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Well, that's the way my conversations always work in the real world - lots of digressions and branchings, always trying to wrap it all back to the original topic - but it doesn't always happen! :)
I know something about Puerto Rican music, I love plena where you hear a lot of cuatro, and bomba (as a guy who has mostly played percussion, how could I not?), and that is a totally new and amazing bit of information, thanks!
And I think you must be right about all those influences from the Azores coming together in Hawaii. There is some (not much) information online about Nunes and the other early builders, and Mike DaSilva has blessed the world with his amazing reproductions so we can see and hear what the early 'ukuleles were like (BTW, he is moving to Honolulu beginning of October). I'm sure the instrument went through an evolutionary process. King Kalakaua may have been influential on the design evolution for all I know. Here's a snip from John King's blog:
"Kalakaua was known to haunt the guitar shop of Dias—it was at 11 King Street, ‘ewa of ‘Iolani Palace—and because Dias had no English and the king had no Portuguese, Dias’ teenaged daughter, Christina, would facilitate conversations between the two. So, it’s not surprising that the only surviving ukuleles with a truly royal Hawaiian provenance were both made by the artful Madeiran (Ka‘iulani’s Dias uke is in a private collection in Honolulu; another Dias, given as a gift by Kalakaua, has wound up in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum). Late in her long life, Christina Dias Gilliland remarked that Kalakaua even allowed her father to brand his instruments with the royal seal. Sadly, no such instruments are known to have survived."
As for me, every time I think about that coming book I get excited. And that baritone of Eddie Kamae's still blows me away. :) |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
Edited by - Mike Anderson on 08/25/2011 1:34:24 PM |
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salmonella
Lokahi
240 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2011 : 06:01:32 AM
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have you checked into Dennis Lake at Po Mahina?
I think he makes a two puka Uke. I know he makes a guitar of that style.
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salmonella
Lokahi
240 Posts |
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Mike Anderson
Akahai
Canada
84 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2011 : 07:59:00 AM
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| Thank you salmonella, but unfortunately well out of my range. If I had that kind of money to spend on an instrument I'd go with a Mike DaSilva vintage reproduction (and hope to some day). The Po Mahina are beautiful though! I was also advised (at ukuleleunderground) to try Steve Grimes as he will apparently build 'ukuleles on request, but they're also too rich for my blood. |
It's never too late to have a happy childhood! |
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Topic |
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can anyone ID Eddie Kamae's baritone?
