What Is Ukuleles by Kawika?

Ukuleles by Kawika is a personal knowledge-sharing site run by a ukulele maker named Kawika. It is not a storefront or a general ukulele retailer: the site mixes two bodies of craft documentation — ukulele building and repair notes, and detailed lauhala (pandanus leaf) weaving tutorials. If you are looking for a shop with prices and stock, this is not that. If you want workshop-level reference material on how instruments are built and how traditional weaving projects are made step by step, it is a substantial free archive.

What the site actually contains

The site's own tagline frames it as a teaching-and-learning project: "Everyone knows something; no one knows everything. Therefore everyone has something to teach and something to learn." That explains the unusual pairing of topics. The navigation is organized into two large tutorial sections plus a set of reference pages.

Ukulele building and setup

The ukulele section is written from a builder's bench perspective. Topics listed on the site include:

• Stringing and tuning — attaching strings to tuning pegs and the bridge, and tunings for the 4-string tenor.
• Bridge work — making and installing a "Ukulele Bridge Doctor," aligning and gluing bridges, bridge gluing calculations, and bridge and bridge plate sizes.
• Setup measurements — measuring string compensation across varying scale lengths, and how string diameter variability affects frequency response.
• Body construction — edge gluing tops, backs, and sides, plus a soundhole and trim routing jig.
• Materials — a page about koa wood.

These are the kind of notes a builder writes for other builders: jig designs, gluing math, and compensation measurement rather than beginner "which ukulele should I buy" advice.

Lauhala weaving

The weaving section is the larger of the two and reads like a structured course. It starts with background and vocabulary — sources of information for weaving lauhala and flax, Hawaiian vocabulary for weaving and plaiting, and basic reading and vocabulary — then moves into preparation: getting ready to weave, preparing lauhala, using a glycerin solution to soften lauhala, thornless variegated lau preparation, and cutting lauhala strips (koana).

From there it progresses through technique and projects:

• Posture and tools — weaving posture and exercises, a weaving tool and techniques, and a practice tool for improving ulana skills.
• Patterns — herringbone maka ʻoena, check weave (maka moena), twill weave (maka oeno), and diagonal weave, plus pages on changing horizontal twill to vertical twill, changing horizontal twill to check, and changing check to vertical twill.
• Joining strips — adding in koana, adding a two-piece koana, a folded koana, and a bent koana, plus adding in love knots.
• Numbered projects — a small coaster, a small trivet in check weave, a trivet in twill weave, a trivet/purse in diagonal weave, a nihoniho (toothed) coaster, a small basket, a lauhala-covered door stop, a drinking glass sleeve, and a multi-part hat sequence ending in a pāʻole pāpale or garden hat.
• Hat finishing — a piko to pā transition, adding koana to the hat brim, sewing sweatbands into lauhala hats, and a serrated-edge plaiting technique (whakakitaratara).

There are also contributed pieces, such as Ed Kaneko's hatband and notes on pāpale making by Jim Skibby, which suggests the site accepts material from other practitioners.

Reference and history pages

Alongside the tutorials sit archival pages: a Hawaiian ukulele characteristics database, old Hawaiian ukulele photos, vintage ukulele instruction manuals, a page on collecting ukuleles and memorabilia, and photo galleries of Kawika's instruments and shop tips. The database and manual scans are the most useful part for anyone researching older instruments, since vintage instruction manuals are otherwise hard to find in one place.

Who it is for

Practical notes before you use it

The site runs a search box, which is the fastest way in given how much material is nested under the weaving menu. Content is in English with Hawaiian terminology retained throughout the weaving pages, so expect to pick up terms like koana and maka moena as you go. A Stripe payment reference appears on the site, but nothing in the available material indicates what, if anything, is sold — treat purchasing as unconfirmed and contact the site owner directly if that matters to you. The site also carries the line "Making tomorrow's vintage instruments...today," which reflects its orientation toward traditional construction rather than modern production instruments.

The most efficient way to start: pick your interest, then use search rather than browsing the menu. Weavers should begin with the preparation and cutting-strips pages before attempting any numbered project, since every project assumes you already have properly prepared koana. Builders should go straight to the bridge and compensation pages, which contain the specific measurements the rest of the setup content depends on.