H&L Howlett and Lipson Masterbuilt Pencil Cedar & Californian Myrtle Baritone Ukulele - Constellation of Pisces #010

£2,999.00 £2,499.17

The term swansong is quite heartbreaking when you really delve into it. One last hurrah and big motion before the curtain goes down on a performance or career. Yet, when I looked into the sound hole of our most recent Howlett ukulele and saw Pete Howlett had labelled it 1/6 swansong; his introduction to Dan Lipson suddenly felt like a lovely way to say goodbye.

The Constellation of Pisces ukulele is the second collaboration between Pete and Dan Lipson using Pete's California style ukulele build and adopted with some flair by Dan Lipson. It is the first baritone of its kind ever made.

The top on this unique tenor ukulele is Pencil Cedar, a much prized tonewood in high end classical guitar building and a favourite of ours. We requested this as many folks cite the earliest form of Petes Revelator Ukulele with a Pencil Cedar top as the moment that instrument really found its audience. The back and sides are Oregan Myrtle making for a cannon of a combination. Loud and true, trusty and clean. Full of heart and perfect for every kind of player. This ukulele has all the guts of a small classical guitar and enough expression that the first time I played a HL ukulele on camera I shed a tear. The constellation theme is a lovely touch that can almost get lost behind the stunning tonewoods.

This Ukulele has tremendous sustain and dynamic range as shown in our video of this ukulele.

(video coming Monday)

Learn about the process and design in this interview below

The fingerboard inlays are the planets of the solar system with a particular impressive Saturn's ring made of the thinnest possible slither of abalone - it's a wonder really that this was even possible. The crow's feet binding gives this ukulele a gorgeous moody look paired with the deep reds and oranges of the cedar top. The Pisces constellation is inlayed into the Myrtle back in gold mother of pearl. A lovely extra touch on a ukulele that does not need any more reasons to be stunningly gorgeous on the eyes and ears.

This is one of Dan Lipsons first and one of Pete Howlett's final masterpieces. A meeting of minds and craft that rivals anything I have seen in 20 years of ukulele retail at any price.

Specification:

California style Baritone "Constellation of Taurus"

Solid Pencil Cedar top
Solid Oregan Myrtle back and sides
X-braced in alpine spruce
Custom oval sound hole
Thuya burr "heart" rosette with BWB purfling
Ebano binding with WBWB line and crowfoot purfling
Shropshire alder neck
Classic "Howlett" neck profile
Ebony fingerboard
Planets of the solar system fretboard markers
Gold MOP constellation of Pisces inlays on back
Strung DGBE with Nylon Strings
Custom design ebony bridge
Hand carved bone nut and saddle
38mm nut width w/30mm string spacing at nut
Ebony veneer headstock
Howlett:Lipson collaborative headstock logo
Gotoh classic UK700 15:1 ration gold tuners with ivoroid buttons

Revelator Baritone Case Included