Naturel Ukulele - Solid Ziricote Jumbo Concert Ukulele - NAMM 2020 Special

The NAMM show comes around like clockwork every January and for the past 5 years I have had the privelage of attending on behalf of the Southern Ukulele Store. Every year I am blown away by the craftsmanship of the various Japanese Ukulele builders on display at the Takumi Ukulele booth. In previous years we have introduced the UK and Europe to various instruments from premium builders like Sumi, TODA and Takumi themselves and now for the first time ever; I found myself smuggling (not really) a beautiful creation by Naturel back with me on the plane as my hand luggage.

Naturel Ukuleles are the work of Yoshiro Naoki - an experienced Luthier that set up Naturel back in 2004 in Shikatsu, Nagoya but also worked for 18 years as a jewellery maker prior to building musical instruments. The waiting list in Japan for one of his instrument is currently 3 years but we managed to jump the queue with this Ukulele which has an unconventionally large lower bout and manages to feel like both a Tenor and a Concert simultaniously. The almost 'pear' shaped body of this Uke and the solid Ziricote body really drew us in and I have absolutely nothing but the utmost respect for any builder that can have the best looking and sounding Ukulele on a stand with TODA's, Sumi's, Lo Prinzi's, Da Silva's and Kawakami Ukuleles to compete with. Perhaps only sharing peerage with KoAloha and Kanile'as other worldy 2020 offerings, I felt that this ukulele was the best instrument I played at the show and we collected it at the end of day 4 and carried it back with us on the flight.

The unusual solitary bird inlay on the fingerboard is chocabloc full of detail and was done completely by hand along with the matching inlay on the headstock. The Ziricote body has a good amount of depth to it and tonally sounds almost like a very fine piece of Claro Walnut or perhaps even Macassar Ebony - it is bright enough to retain the clarity of single notes but also reflects bass frequencies in such a way that the tone of the Uke stays very Ukulele like (low G or High G) and the result is a uke that has sustain and projection like a Tenor but with a little less compression and a good bright response on the finger tips.

When I purchased this instrument at the show the retail price was due to be just a touch over 3000GBP upon our return but the instrument was held and played by countless people at the show that all wanted it for themselves too, as a result we did find several long, very thin surface scratches in the back that would not polish out and felt it was best to reduce the price slightly so as to best match the new owners expectations. The condition of this Ukulele remains between 8.5 and 9/10 and the sound, look and feel of the Ukulele bring the overall score back up being 11/10 any day of the week.

Finally, the hard case that came with this instrument is slightly used and was mistreated by US customs officials on the way out of LAX and one of the catches is a bit loose but does still lock with the key (I had no problems using it to protect the Ukulele for transatlantic travel home). Due to the unusual shape, other cases are an awkward fit so we are happy to include a premium gigbag with this Ukulele by request instead of the case. If the bag is not requested we will ship the Ukulele with the case pictured.

Solid South American Ziricote Top, Back and Sides
Abalone inlays on fingerboard, headstock
35mm nut width
bound fingerboard
Ebony fingerboard and bridge
Abalone rosette
Black Hard case inclued