Ukulelekommissionens forum

[Resophonic]

Have you got an old Landola or Levin ukulele or any material about them (adds or stuff like that)? If yes, do get in touch wih me asap!!!
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I uke, do you uke too?

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[J�rgen]

Check out this page (in Swedish) with alot of old Levin catalogue material and pictures of the Levin ukulele. In 1935 you could get a Levin 500 uke for 26 SEK.

http://www.johaneliasson.com/under_sidor/levin.htm
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Jag �r bra p� att g�ra andra b�st. Vad �r du bra p�?

[hrlarson]

Johan Eliasson is a Levin afficonado. You'll find more of his kind at www.ackegura.proboards50.com/ (in swedish). Most guys at that forum are passionate about scandinavian made instruments. I know Johan has got one levin ukulele. I never heard of ukulele from Landola. It is certainly worth a try to ask at ackegura.

Edit: I posted a distress call at ackegura. Keep your fingers crossed.
http://www.ackegura.proboards50.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=talk&thread=4321
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Totalmoddad P'Mico sopran
Runesson sopran

[Resophonic]

I've corresponded with Johan in the past concerning an old Levin gXXXar-banjo and he indeed seems to be a bottomless-pitt of Levin-data... I take my panama-hat off and bow beofre such deep knowledge...

I find it a pitty that nordic-luthiered ukes have practically dissapared and very little of them is known... I managed to locate a guy in Finland who owns the original jigs for making Landola ukes, but never as yet have actually seen a Landola uke (nor have I seen the jigs as yet), not even on a photo. However it is confirmed that the company did make them for a time being... I also know, that soon after they started to build ukes somebody found a Martin S-0 uke from Landola's carbage!!! In other words Landola had comissioned a Martin uke and assumably copied a construction plan and then just simply dumped the Martin-uke!!! This leads to a logical assumption that the Landola ukes are sopranos based on the Martin design, but I might be wrong... All this info comes from a highly reliable source, so it's not just an urban legend.

Why I'm so eager to summon stuff like this is, that we're planning to make an exhibition about the nordic uke-history sometime next year, but hey! It's a secret so don't tell that anybody as yet
_________________
I uke, do you uke too?

http://www.ukulelenurkka.net
http://www.youtube.com/ukulelenurkka
http://www.myspace.com/ukulelenurkka
http://www.myspace.com/losbastardossympaticos

[hrlarson]

Here's the pictures of Johan's Levin uke:
http://www.ackegura.proboards50.com/index.cgi?board=bilder&action=display&thread=2920&page=1
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Totalmoddad P'Mico sopran
Runesson sopran

[Resophonic]

Wow... Tack! What an original headstock design... and it seems as if you guys have been using D-tuning from the very beginning on, thou the scale-length seems to call for C...
_________________
I uke, do you uke too?

http://www.ukulelenurkka.net
http://www.youtube.com/ukulelenurkka
http://www.myspace.com/ukulelenurkka
http://www.myspace.com/losbastardossympaticos

[hrlarson]

http://www.vintage-guitars.se/1960_Levin_Model_92_Honolulu_405830.htm
http://muusikoiden.net/tori/index.php?id=29&location=all&type=all
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Totalmoddad P'Mico sopran
Runesson sopran

[hrlarson]

The Levin catalogue says D-tuning, and some members of ukulelekommissionen claims that's the original standard-tuning, even. I'm not sure. The Levin ukes are peculiar instruments. The head is butt uggly, if you ask me. Then again, I wouldn't mind having an ukulele with a Levin (or Landola) logo on the peghead.
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Totalmoddad P'Mico sopran
Runesson sopran

[Robert_Hultman]

But I wonder where Levin got the idea to put steel strings on their ukuleles. The only Levin Ukulele that I've seen IRL also had steel strings.


There was an other ukulele maker in Gothenburg: Crafton they began manufacturing ukuleles in 1946 and may have been producing them untill they ceased all instrument making in the early 1960s.

Hagstr�m also had ukuleles in their catalogeu during a period (I've seen one in their 1952 catalogue. But no one I've talked to could say if they were manufactured by Hagstr�m or just sold under the Hagstr�m label.

"Ungdomsstj�rnan i Ousby" was another Swedish label under which ukuleles where sold. But as I understand it they were manufactured elsewhere. I belive that Ungdomsstj�rnan was a christian publishing house.
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"Sannolikheten att lyckas �kar dramatiskt med varje f�rs�k"
John Nash

[hrlarson]

I know Martin put steel on some of their ukes and called them timples or tiples.
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Totalmoddad P'Mico sopran
Runesson sopran

[Resophonic]

That's a Tiple, a 10-string version of a ukulele based on a south-american design... Friend of mine has one of those and it's a great thing... They're very hard to get hold of, but I know a luthier who can build thiem


_________________
I uke, do you uke too?

http://www.ukulelenurkka.net
http://www.youtube.com/ukulelenurkka
http://www.myspace.com/ukulelenurkka
http://www.myspace.com/losbastardossympaticos

[hrlarson]

Two reentrants, right? How much does he charga for a tiple, your friend?
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Totalmoddad P'Mico sopran
Runesson sopran

[Sven]

Hi all - there is an old Levin ukulele in a shop. In Sweden. Don't know if it's for sale. It hasn't the weird headstock design (which I didn't find buttugly at all... ), but it had a flat back without domes or arches.

Sven

[hrlarson]

At Halkan's was it? Maybe I could do a field trip to see it.
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Totalmoddad P'Mico sopran
Runesson sopran

[Sven]

I did consider that as information that should be spread on a need-to-know basis only... I reach for my creditcard...

S