Sumi Kobo HB-T Hummingbird Tenor Ukulele All Solid Spruce/Curly Maple Masterbuilt

Those of you that follow our blogs and the shops social media accounts will have seen a great deal of love and yearning from us about Sumi, a master Luthier of over 40 years who stole the show for us at both the 2017 and 2018 NAMM shows.

Most of the Sumi Ukuleles are inspired by and built to be faithful or improved replicas of famous instruments. At the 2017 show, I had the pleasure of trying one of the instruments every Ukulele enthusiast had their eye on - A scaled down Ukulele version of the Square shouldered dreadnought Gibson Hummingbird Guitar and I absolutely fell in love with it.

The first of these Hummingbird Tenor's arrived with us at the tail end of 2017 and sold in a matter of hours. The second arrived two years to the day after the order was placed! 24 months have passed since that feeling of wonderment hit me and it is here again today. Phil and I swooned over this instrument and they continue to do so as I write this. The HB-T (Hummingbird Tenor) has a Premium Japanese Red Spruce top and gorgeous curly Maple back and sides. Eiichi Sumi began his instrument building back in the 1970s Maruka workshops that created the much praised Kentucky and Dawg Mandolins and this training influences the Sumi work ethic to this day. This Ukulele was completely hand built with no CNC machines or modern machinery - You can count on one hand the amount of builders that can make this claim in 2019.

The sound is as you would expect from good Spruce - it has an immediacy to it but is not as bitey or as loud as say a Kanile'a KSDLX or the KoAloha Red Label. Having said that, when you dig into the strings and play with some soul - it comes tearing across. This Ukulele is still young and a little bit tight sounding but my oh my how it will continue to open up as its owner grows with it.

Although Sumi has produced a number of Concert Hummingbird models in recent years, this is only the third Tenor model ever made. The attention to detail is staggering with a light Maple and 5 ply black/white binding throughout the body and just maple binding continuing up the neck (Why Gibson Hummingbirds don't have this is beyond me), an Ebony fingerboard and bridge and finally Gotoh Stealth Tuners. The most elegant touch is the painstakingly reproduced Hummingbird pickguard and an unfitted dummy truss rod cover.

The nitro finish on this Ukulele is super light, and when shone in the light can appear almost open pore, as no grain filler is used. It does a fantastic job in highlighting the eccentricities in the wood beneath the period correct three tone Cherry sunburst finish. Because of the lack of grain filler, there is one larger feature in the wood on the top that looks that shows up prominently, and a few more around the binding. The way in which these really light finishes allow the wood to breath and mature much quicker than modern polyester and UV finishes more than makes up for these marks. The principle of wabi-sabi is really in play here. 

Solid Premium Japanese Red Spruce Top
Solid Premium Curly Maple back and sides
Square Shoulder Dreadnought shape
Maple and plastic bindings with maple heelcap
Ebony Fingerboard and Bridge with guitar style pin bridge design
Parrelelogram Fret Markers
Gotoh Stealth Black/Gold tuners
Truss Rod Cover (optional)
17 inch Tenor Scale
Super Light Gloss finish
Nut width: 35mm
Overall Length: 65.5cm