ukuleles.com

Ukuleles by Kawika (ukuleles.com) is organized into two main content tracks: a large, step-by-step lauhala weaving course and a ukulele section covering instrument care, history, and workshop techniques. If you want weaving instructions, start at the preparation pages and work through the numbered projects in order. If you want ukulele information, the site separates practical setup topics (strings, tunings) from reference material (a characteristics database, vintage photos, old instruction manuals) and from shop technique write-ups. The site's own tagline, "Everyone knows something; no one knows everything," signals that this is a personal teaching archive rather than a storefront catalog.

The Two Main Sections

The navigation reflects two distinct interests of the site's author:

A search box is present on the site, which is the fastest route if you already know the topic name you want.

Navigating the Lauhala Weaving Course

This section is the most structured part of the site. It reads as a course, and the order matters:

1. Background and vocabulary — sources of information, Hawaiian vocabulary for weaving and plaiting.
2. Material preparation — getting ready to weave, preparing lauhala, using a glycerin solution to soften it, working with thornless variegated lau, and cutting strips (koana).
3. Body and tool basics — weaving posture and exercises, a weaving tool and techniques, and a practice tool for improving ulana skills.
4. Core techniques — herringbone maka ʻoena, adding in koana (including two-piece, folded, and bent variations), and learning the lock fold.
5. Numbered projects — ten listed projects that build in difficulty, from a small check-weave coaster through twill and diagonal weaves, a toothed coaster, a small basket, a lauhala-covered door stop, a drinking glass sleeve, and finally a simple hat and the start of a pāʻole pāpale (garden hat).
6. Advanced and reference material — changing basic weaving patterns, hat-making tools and approaches, homemade forms, piko transitions, brim and sweatband work, and contributed pieces such as serrated-edge plaiting and hatband examples.

How to use it: if you are new, do not jump to the hat projects. The early pages on softening lauhala and cutting consistent strips determine whether later weaving goes smoothly. Work through the first two or three projects before attempting pattern changes.

Navigating the Ukulele Section

The ukulele content is less linear. It splits into four practical groupings:

• Setup and sound — attaching strings to tuning pegs and bridge, tunings for the 4-string tenor, and a page on strings and sounds.
• Materials and identification — a page on Koa wood and a "Hawaiian Ukulele Characteristics Database," which is the place to look if you are trying to identify or compare instruments.
• History and collecting — old Hawaiian ukulele photos, vintage ukulele instruction manuals, and a page on collecting ukuleles and memorabilia.
• Shop techniques — a detailed workshop section covering soundhole and trim routing jigs, edge gluing tops, backs and sides, making and installing a "Ukulele Bridge Doctor," aligning and gluing bridges, bridge gluing calculations, bridge and bridge plate sizes, measuring string compensation across varying scale lengths, and string diameter variability and frequency response.

How to use it: players looking for setup help should go straight to the strings and tuning pages. Builders and repairers will find the shop tips section the most technical part of the site, with calculations and jig descriptions rather than general advice. Collectors and researchers should start with the characteristics database and the vintage photo and manual pages.

Practical Tips for Finding What You Need

• Use the search box for specific terms like "bridge," "koana," or "tuning" rather than browsing, since the menu is long and mixes both subjects.
• Expect a teaching-archive style, not a shop. The site presents itself as a place to learn and share knowledge; no product pricing or ordering flow is described in the available site content, so treat it as a reference and instruction resource.
• Follow the numbering in the weaving projects. The project sequence is the clearest path through that section, and each project assumes the techniques taught earlier.
• Check the shop tips pages before starting a build task. Pages on bridge gluing calculations and string compensation give you the reasoning behind the measurements, which is more useful than a bare dimension list.

Ukuleles by Kawika hosts a free, sequential lauhala weaving curriculum that takes you from preparing raw leaves to finishing a woven hat. Start with the preparation and posture pages, weave the practice projects in order (coaster, trivet, basket), and only then move to hats and pattern changes. The site is a personal instructional archive rather than a course with enrollment, so you work through the pages at your own pace.

What the site actually offers

The weaving section is organized as a numbered progression, not a random blog. The main clusters are:

• Preparation: sources of information, Hawaiian vocabulary for weaving/plaiting, getting ready to weave, preparing lauhala, using a glycerin solution to soften leaves, thornless variegated lau preparation, and cutting strips (koana).
• Body and tool basics: weaving posture and exercises, a weaving tool and techniques, and a practice tool for improving ulana skills.
• Patterns and joins: herringbone maka ʻoena, adding in koana, adding a two-piece koana, adding a folded koana, adding a bent koana, and the lock fold.
• Ten numbered projects: small coaster (check weave / maka moena), small trivet (check weave), small trivet (twill weave / maka oeno), trivet/purse (diagonal weave), nihoniho (toothed) coaster, small basket, lauhala-covered door stop, drinking glass sleeve, simple hat (parts 1 and 2), and starting a pāʻole pāpale or garden hat.
• Advanced hat work: changing horizontal twill to vertical twill, changing horizontal twill to check, changing check to vertical twill, adding love knots, hat-making tools, homemade ipu forms, piko transitions, adding koana to the brim, sewing sweatbands, serrated edge plaiting, and guest sections on hatbands and papale making.

There is also a separate ukulele section (stringing, tunings, koa wood, a Hawaiian ukulele characteristics database, vintage manuals), so use the weaving pages specifically if weaving is your goal.

A working order for a beginner

1. Read the vocabulary and "getting ready" pages first. The tutorials use Hawaiian terms for strips, patterns, and joins; learning them before you cut anything prevents confusion later.
2. Prepare your material. Follow the lauhala preparation and glycerin-softening pages, then the koana cutting page. Soft, evenly cut strips are the precondition for everything that follows.
3. Set up your body and tools. Work through the posture/exercises page and make the practice tool. Weaving is done in long sessions with repetitive hand motion, so the site treats posture as part of the method, not an afterthought.
4. Weave Project 1 (coaster, check weave). This is your first complete piece and teaches tension and edge control.
5. Repeat the check weave in Project 2 (trivet), then switch to twill in Project 3. Doing the same pattern twice before changing patterns is the site's own sequencing logic.
6. Learn the joins before you need them. Practice adding in koana (plain, two-piece, folded, bent) on scrap work, because every larger project requires starting new strips mid-weave.
7. Move through diagonal weave (Project 4), the nihoniho coaster (5), and the basket (6). These introduce shaping and decorative edges.
8. Do the small projects 7–8 (door stop, glass sleeve) as quick confidence pieces before hats.
9. Start hats with Projects 9–10, then use the pattern-change and piko pages as reference while weaving.

What to expect at each stage

Common sticking points

• Skipping the glycerin step. Dry or brittle leaves crack at the fold; the site includes softening specifically to avoid this.
• Cutting strips unevenly. Width variation shows up immediately in check weave. Cut a batch, then sort.
• Learning joins late. Most failed beginner pieces fail at a join, not in the pattern. Practice joins on a scrap coaster.
• Jumping to hats too early. Hats combine every prior skill (piko, brim additions, pattern changes); the numbered projects exist to build those first.
• Ignoring the posture page. The exercises are there because weaving is physically repetitive; treat them as part of the tutorial.

Practical notes

The site lists Stripe among its payment platforms, which relates to the shop side of the site; the weaving tutorials themselves are published as free instructional pages. No pricing for instruction is stated on the pages reviewed, so do not assume any paid course structure. For questions the pages do not answer, the site's own motto—everyone has something to teach and something to learn—reflects its community-oriented, reference-style approach rather than a formal support channel.

Ukuleles by Kawika (ukuleles.com) is a builder's resource site that documents ukulele construction and repair techniques in detail, with a particular focus on bridge work, string compensation, edge gluing, and routing jigs. The material is written for people already building or repairing instruments—it assumes you know basic woodworking and are looking for specific methods, measurements, and shop-built solutions rather than beginner lessons. The site also hosts a large separate section on lauhala weaving, which is unrelated to instrument work.

Bridge Making, Alignment, and Gluing

Bridge work is the most thoroughly covered repair and building topic on the site. The relevant pages include:

• Making & Installing the Ukulele Bridge – fabricating the bridge and fitting it to the instrument.
• Aligning & Gluing Bridges – positioning the bridge before glue-up.
• Bridge Gluing Calculations – the arithmetic behind bridge placement and glue-up.
• Bridges and Bridge Plate Sizes – sizing the bridge and the bridge plate beneath the soundboard.
• Doctor Aligning & Gluing Bridges – a page grouped with the bridge-alignment material, suggesting a repair-oriented approach to re-gluing or correcting a bridge.

Together these pages treat the bridge as a measurement problem, not just a glue joint: where the saddle sits, how the bridge plate is sized, and how the bridge is aligned all affect intonation and structural soundness. If you are replacing a lifted bridge or building a new top, this cluster is the place to start.

String Compensation and Scale Length

Two pages address intonation directly:

• Measuring String Compensation – Varying Scale Lengths – how to measure and set compensation when the scale length changes.
• String Diameter Variability and Frequency Response – how differences in string gauge affect response.

The compensation page is the practical one: it treats compensation as something you measure per scale length rather than copy from a template. That matters if you are building a non-standard scale (a tenor versus a soprano, or a custom instrument) where off-the-shelf saddle positions won't intonate correctly. The string-diameter page is more explanatory—useful background when choosing strings or diagnosing why one string sounds or intonates differently from the others.

Edge Gluing and Routing Jigs

The shop-technique pages cover the bookmatched-plate stage and the soundhole/trim stage:

• Edge Gluing Tops, Backs & Sides – joining plates and preparing sides.
• Soundhole & Trim Routing Jig – a shop-built jig for cutting the soundhole and routing trim.
• Kawika's Shop Tips – a general collection of shop methods.

The routing jig page is typical of the site's approach: it documents a homemade fixture rather than a commercial tool, so you can reproduce the setup in your own shop. Expect to supply your own router and bits; the page describes the jig and the routing operation, not a product.

Related Reference Material

Beyond technique pages, the site keeps reference material that supports building and repair decisions:

• Tunings for the 4-String Tenor and Attaching Strings to Tuning Pegs and Bridge – stringing and tuning reference.
• About Koa Wood – material background for soundboard and body work.
• Hawaiian Ukulele Characteristics Database, Old Hawaiian Ukulele Pics, and Vintage Ukulele Instruction Manuals – historical and identification references.
• Collecting Ukuleles & Memorabilia – for collectors rather than builders.

What to Expect and What's Missing

The site is a personal builder's notebook, not a structured course. Pages are organized by topic rather than in a step-by-step sequence, and some titles (such as the bridge-alignment pages) overlap, so you may need to read two or three pages to assemble a complete procedure. There is no indication of pricing, courses, or paid access on the pages reviewed, and no evidence of a forum or comment-based Q&A—so treat it as a reference library to consult for a specific operation, not a place to ask follow-up questions.

If your task is re-gluing a bridge, setting compensation on a custom scale, or building a soundhole routing jig, the site has directly relevant pages. If you need a full start-to-finish build plan, you will have to sequence the individual technique pages yourself.

Ukuleles by Kawika is a personal luthier's site that pairs a working instrument-maker's shop notes with a reference collection of Hawaiian ukulele history. If you want practical guidance on stringing and tuning a four-string tenor, background on koa wood, or a place to look up vintage instruments and old instruction manuals, the ukulele sections cover all three. The site also hosts a large body of lauhala weaving tutorials, which are unrelated to the instrument and can be skipped if you came only for ukulele content.

Practical playing and setup guidance

The "Ukuleles" section opens with hands-on material rather than sales copy:

• Attaching strings to tuning pegs and bridge — a step-by-step reference for restringing, useful when you are installing a new set and want the winding at the peg and the knot or tie at the bridge done correctly.
• Tunings for the 4-string tenor — tuning references specific to the tenor scale, so you can check your target pitches before you tighten anything.

These pages are written as instructions, not product listings. Expect to supply your own strings and instrument; the site does not present itself as a retail checkout for instruments.

Wood, history, and identification

Three resources support research and buying decisions on older instruments:

There is also a page on collecting ukuleles and memorabilia, which is the closest thing to guidance for someone starting or organizing a collection. Use the characteristics database and photo archive together when you are trying to place an unlabeled instrument or judge whether a listed feature is period-appropriate.

Vintage manuals and shop technique

The Vintage Ukulele Instruction Manuals page is the most directly reusable resource for players: older method books often contain chord and strumming approaches that current tutorials skip.

For builders and repairers, "Kawika's Shop Tips" is the technical core of the site. Documented topics include:

• Soundhole and trim routing jig — a shop-made jig for cutting soundholes and trim channels.
• Edge gluing tops, backs, and sides — joining plates and closing the body.
• Making and installing the Ukulele Bridge Doctor — a bridge-support device and its installation.
• Aligning and gluing bridges, plus bridge gluing calculations.
• Bridges and bridge plate sizes — dimensional reference.
• Measuring string compensation across varying scale lengths — how saddle position shifts with scale.
• String diameter variability and frequency response — how gauge choices affect tone.

The compensation and string-diameter pages are the ones to read before changing scale length or string gauge, since both change where the saddle needs to sit and how the instrument responds.

How to use the site efficiently

1. Start from the ukulele menu group if you are a player; go straight to "Kawika's Shop Tips" if you are building or repairing.
2. For identification work, open the characteristics database and the old-photo archive in separate tabs and compare feature by feature.
3. Treat the shop-tip pages as notes from one maker's bench: they describe specific jigs and calculations, so adapt dimensions to your own scale length rather than copying them directly.
4. Ignore the weaving section unless lauhala craft is also your interest — it dominates the site's navigation and can make the ukulele pages harder to find.

One caveat: the site is organized as a blog-style archive with a search box, and the menu mixes weaving and ukulele topics at the same level. Searching for a specific term such as "compensation" or "koa" is faster than browsing the sidebar. Pricing and ordering details for instruments are not laid out in the pages reviewed here, so contact the maker directly if you are interested in a built instrument rather than the reference material.

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.