T's Guitar

Ever want a mango mini tenor with a red cedar top?

The plan was to bring up T's Guitars a couple weeks later than this. Two discoveries changed the plan.

First, a semi-pro/advanced amateur acquaintance left his T’s Guitar ukulele on a bench where I was sitting a couple of weeks ago. He had just finished his performance and went off to gather some of his gear. Hmmm….while he is not looking, I’ll just give this a quick once-around to see how it is. Oh, this is nice.

I don’t know the model, but it was very nice. It looked like their SD-100 model. Feather-light, it had a comfortably rounded neck and wonderful action. It was easy to play and sounded quite pleasant. I can see why he chose that soprano to play for his gig. (His other is a custom-made Kamaka with low-G tuning.) It was such a fun instrument that it piqued my interest.

After a little research, I have found that their ukulele was selected the BEST OF THE SHOW at the 2005 Ukulele Exhibition in Honolulu. Not just a clonker.

According to T’s website, the company was established in 1985 by a pair of brothers in Nagano, who were just into making guitars. They started out making handmade guitars using almost only hand tools. They have since expanded and now make guitars, basses, and ukuleles. They continued to make handmade and special-order instruments, but their business expanded past the two brothers and also include more precise tools for making their instruments.

They have a “web store” where photos are available for some models. If you click on this link, you will find different table just down the page offering their wares from sopranos to tenors. The columns of the tables/order form as of this writing read “model number”, “number in stock”, “price including case”, “body material”, options for “body top materials” and “number ordered”. There are links for some model numbers which will open up another window displaying photos of that model.

The woods they use can be anything from spruce or Hawaiian koa to redwood or cedar. Maple, walnut, rosewood, and mango are other examples. Their order form offers a kind of mix and match set-up.

Probably in line with the quality is the price. Sopranos start at over $400. Their most expensive soprano is a meager $2,500. Probably not something you want to start your neighbor's six-year-old off with or toss in your backpack as you hitchhike across the Sahara.

I did mention two discoveries, didn’t I? The second is that T’s seems to be the company responsible for bringing back the Luna brand. More on that soon.