Interview with Dave Means --
Glyph Ukuleles
February 2005

Thanks to Dave Means for sharing his time with us! Visit Glyph Ukuleles on the web!

UkeTalk: How did you get started in instrument making, and ukuleles in particular?

Dave Means: I’ve been a duffer of a guitar player since my teen years. Being handy and always interested in how instruments work, I’ve always done my own setups and repairs. Friends liked what I had done, so soon I was doing the same for them. I also have been a woodworker my entire life.

By the early ‘90s I had restored a number of “basket case” instruments of all varieties and was starting to think about building from scratch. My first “scratch” instrument was a hammered dulcimer I built in 1995. I went kind of hog-wild on it, doing an elaborately inlaid soundboard. This project was so successful, it gave me the confidence to take on other dulcimers and a banjo. I always figured I’d build guitars eventually.

In the late ‘90s, however, my wife and I went on an extended vacation to Hawaii. I’d always been attracted to ukuleles (I had a plastic “TV Pal” at four, during the Arthur Godfrey years), and my exposure to them and the culture on the trip got me to thinking that building a uke would be a good warm-up to building a guitar. On my return, I started some research and discovered the burgeoning ukulele revival. My first uke was so successful, I decided to build one of each size… to hell with guitars… this was more fun!

I soon fell in with James “Fleastomper” Key (the hottest player in the Mid-Atlantic states, to my ear) who was impressed by my ukes. He asked me to build him a concert, and I did. About the same time, my wife’s multiple sclerosis was worsening, and it was obvious that I was going to have to retire from my career as a government research engineer to be at home to care for her. With James’ encouragement, I decided to pursue uke building as a home-based business that would allow me to supplement my pension, do something I loved, and be close at hand if my wife needed help.

Q: What is the philosophy behind the construction of your instruments?

Dave: First, I try to get into the customer’s head to determine exactly what would make him or her happy. I spend a lot of time corresponding with my clients to make sure they understand the ramifications of what they’re asking for, and that I understand their aesthetic, playability and sound requirements. I’m a traditionalist, but believe in incorporating the best of modern lutherie developments, such as domed plates for strength with lightness and carbon-fiber neck reiforcements. I also tend to eschew convenience in favor of using traditional materials and techniques that are time-tested and proven to produce superior tone and future repairability, such as hot hide glue and French polish… even if it means twice the labor. Aesthetically, I have some prejudices… a uke should look and sound like a uke (read: no sidewinder tuners, no solid-bodies, and a strong bias toward re-entrant tuning!).

Q: What is your favorite Ukulele you build?

Dave: I like building them all, but I have a special fondness for sopranos because they represent the greatest challenge… getting a great sound out of such a small package.

Q: How do you see new more “exotic” tonewoods factoring into todays Uke Market?

Dave: I subscribe to the belief of the great 19th-century Spanish guitar builder Torres that a good luthier can build an instrument out of just about anything as long as he understands the material. To prove it, he made a perfectly fine sounding guitar primarily out of papier mache. For backs and sides, I’ll pretty much let the client’s aesthetic tastes dictate their choice of woods. For necks and soundboards, there are some practical considerations that limit the choices a bit. If one takes the characteristics of the tonewood into account, however, a great-sounding instrument can be made from all kinds of exotic species. As good koa and mahogany become harder to get, I see no reason at all not to substitute many other woods that can easily be made to look and sound wonderful.

Q: Any new models you’re working on or something new in the future?

Dave: I don’t have “models” as such… all my instruments are custom. But I’d like to get the chance to build something I’d call a “mezzo-soprano”… a slightly larger soprano with a scale of about 14” or 14-1/4” that would sound like a very robust soprano and be a little easier to finger than the traditional size. I’m also currently building a very traditional narrow-waisted, rope-bound soprano in the style of Augusto Dias’ early work.

Q: In your opinion what are the three most important factors of ukulele building?

Dave: Respect for your customers’ needs, a good understanding of physics (particularly acoustics), and a willingness to adjust for the characteristics of the materials at hand.

Q: If you could build yourself any uke (model, tonewoods, appointments, etc) what would you build?

Dave: If I ever get the time, I’m going to build myself the above-mentioned “mezzo-soprano” with curly koa back and sides, a curly redwood soundboard, and a Honduras mahogany neck. I’ll probably go for either a slotted peghead with open-geared tuners or Peghed lightweight planetary-geared tuners. It will have a goodly amount of tastefully done inlays and fancy purfling… just because I enjoy doing them.

Q: If you could own any other currently built ukulele, who would you choose to build it?

Dave: If you think you’re going to get a direct answer to that question… you’re nuts. I have too many good friends in this community of great builders to insult anyone by choosing one over another. The real truth is that every builder has to have enough confidence in their own abilities to believe they could do the best job themselves.

Q: Do you think that the nut and saddle material affect the sound of a uke very much, and if so, what are the sonic differences, in your opinion between bone, ebony, plastic and ivory (and any other you might like to include)?

Dave: This is a very minor consideration. I won’t use any more plastic on an instrument than absolutely necessary, so that choice is eliminated altogether for me (and, besides, there are many kinds of plastic that all have different physical characteristics). Any choice among the remainders would have to be made in the context of “all other things being equal.” In this context, there is a rough continuum from “mellowest” for ebony to “brightest” for ivory (except fossil ivory, which is softer). Of course, when a note is fretted or a zero fret is used, the nut doesn’t enter into the tonal equation at all.