The Kingdom Era series of instruments pays tribute to the first generation of Maderian luthiers in Hawaii, based off my historical research I did through a grant from Mortise & Tenon Magazine. The larger of the two instruments they made, called a Rajao, is roughly tenor ukulele size, but had five strings tuned dgcea. My four string version is based off of instruments I studied at the Bishop Museum and with Shawn at ukulelefriend.com. I use many of the same tools, techniques and materials that they used in the 1890’s to produce these instruments, with a few modern updates. The back, sides, fretboard and headplate are Koa from the Kahuku Ranch section of island of Hawaii, provided to me by sawyer/forester Bart Potter. It features some great curl, color and black flecks that give it a unique character. The neck is some Cypress, salvaged from a boat shop and the top is Western Red Cedar, from woodfromthewest.com. I wrapped it up in some shop made rope binding from Maple, Walnut and Myrtle. This customer asked for a a handmade wooden case, similar to the old instruments, which I made from Cedar scraps from a cabinet shop. I wrote about this case and the history behind them over on my SubStack, I hope you can join me there. This ukulele has a 17” scale, with fluorocarbon strings, geared tuners, bone nut and saddle and wooden strap buttons. Thanks for the order and your long term support, Tom!!!