Sumi Kobo - 'Style 3' Honduran Mahogany Tenor Ukulele w/Hard Case - NAMM 2024

Some years back now, I stumbled upon some Sumi Ukuleles that looked like Gibson Hummingbird guitars and I squawked with excitement at the prospect of bringing them home to the Southern Ukulele Store. I had no idea just how inspiring I would find the Sumi Kobo Ukes and for a few years, I brought home various one off Sumi creations that would seemingly come and go before I could catch my breath. With Eiichi Sumi being in his later years and his ukuleles being such a long labour intensive process; I didn't think I would ever have the opportunity to bring more to Southern Ukulele Store following COVID. I was pleasantly surprised to see two stunning Gibson inspired creations at the NAMM show this year. 

This very special ukulele is a recreation of a 1920's Gibson soprano ukulele, upscaled to a tenor complete with flagship inlays.

90 years ago, Gibson released a style 3 soprano ukulele to rival Martin's already very famous style 3 ukulele (the one with the stripe down the fingerboard). Sadly for whatever reason this model was never as commercially popular as the already well established Martin model and Gibson quickly moved focus elsewhere and retired the model.

As with many things that weren't understood during their own time - The Gibson style 3's have developed a dedicated following among collectors throughout the decades that have passed because of the instruments intricate and unique flagship inlays and the great period decoration that disappeared when production ceased all those years ago and has not been adopted by a mainstream ukulele company or artisan craftsmen since.

So, now we know Eiichi Sumi's inspiration - what is this homage to the great style 3 like?

Well, it's wonderful. It has all the warmth that you would hope to get from quality Honduran mahogany and a satin, super thin nitro-cellulose finish. The finish is so light that you can feel the wood grain through many areas, and 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 any small cometic defects.

This particular tenor was on display at the NAMM show in California in Jan 2024, and has a few very small light marks in the finish as a result (too small to photo successfully). No dings or dents. The Japanese principle of wabi-sabi that states that things are more desirable because of their flaws is really in play here. This instrument is priced with these small flaws in mind.

The Sumi tenor ukulele has plenty of volume whilst sounding delicate and with a hard strum can sound just a little bit dirty and bluesy. More than anything this ukulele reminds me of a good vintage Martin tenor ukulele and I felt like I was holding a more refined version of the Martin IZ uke the first time I picked it up and played it at the NAMM show.

I think the perfect player for this ukulele would be a singer with aspirations of a slightly bigger sound than a concert without wanting an instrument that would overpower them. Like many Japanese made instruments - the Sumi's often blur the line between smaller and larger ukes because companies like Takumi, Kiwaya and Sumi are all making tenors that feel fractionally undersized and made to measure for a concert player.

Specification:
Solid Honduran mahogany top, back and sides
Honduran mahogany neck
Binding to front and back in maple
Quilted maple bound neck 
Ebony fingerboard and bridge 
Bone nut and saddle 
35mm nut width (28mm string spacing at nut)
Shallow C neck profile
Gotoh UPT planetary geared tuners
Custom 'flagship' inlays - mother of pearl
Period correct patchwork wood soundhole rosette
17 inch scale length
Comes with a Sumi ukulele woodshell hard case