Although I had been dabbling in building some uke parts and building semi-solid body electric ukes, this Pete Howlett koa concert kit was my first experience in building an all acoustic ukulele. At the time I purchased it, I felt that it might be my only chance to build a real uke, as the concept of bending my own sides scared the heck out of me.

I became familiar with Pete Howlett's luthier work through bulletin board discussions at Flea Market Music. I had also seen Pete's offerings on eBay. Pete sells completed ukes as well as the uke kits. This kit is patterned after the Ditson ukuleles that were built by Martin.

The UK Ukes koa concert ukulele kit contained the following items:
Cedar neck; cut and rough-shaped with the scarf joint cut. I had my choice of a 12-fret or 14-fret neck; I chose the 14 fret. The headstock was shaped pretty much like you see it. Koa rims just less of finish-sanded to approximately .080" with sides bent, heel block and endblock glued in, triangular kerfing glued in and sanded. Bookmatched top and backplates approximately .080", left slightly oversize in shape for final sanding. Koa headstock overlay. Ebony blanks for nut and saddle. Ebony fingerboard, slotted but not fretted. Shaped and slotted bridge. Braces for top and back, radiused to create slight doming effect for strength. Backseam material. MOP position markers to be inserted in the fingerboard. The neck heel and body were fitted to be joined by a biscuit (small wooden disc that mates and holds the neck to body in the correct position).

The parts that I supplied myself include; tuners, strings, glue, tools, lacquer and fretwire. I used StewMac #147 fretwire because it's my favorite; it's a little meatier than the skinny vintage wire you see on some ukes but still in the category of small fretwire suitable for mandolin, banjo, dulcimer or uke. The woods Pete used for this uke were stunning, beyond what my photos do justice for. The neck is a 14.75" concert scale length. Pete included instructions with pictures to guide the user through the assembly process. In a phone conversation I had with Pete Howlett, he said "Don't make a bigger deal out of it that it needs to be; it's pretty straightforward, just follow my directions and it'll come out fine." Pete was right.

Overview of Pete Howlett's UK Ukes concert ukulele kit: This all koa uke sounds and feels great, and it's super-light as well; the mark of a well-made ukulele. It's an easy kit for anyone with an intermediate level of instrument building, but I think could be done by a beginner with positive end results as well. Everything is fitted, you just glue the pieces together like a model car. Well, you will need a few tools, and don't forget to have lots of clamps on hand.

This all-solid koa wood kit was well prepared, made with excellent quality materials, good documentation, good support, and the parts all fit together with ease. The bookmatching and grain matching of the top, back and sides is beautiful. The final result was a very nice ukulele that would have cost me twice as much to buy fully assembled. It also gave the confidence to continue my own building by giving me the experience of picking it up halfway through the assembly process.