This is a handmade ukulele, built by Canadian luthier Martin van Humbeck on Vancouver Island. Like every other instrument of his that I’ve seen, it sounds fantastic and looks amazing. But actually, it’s quite easy to make a ukulele like this. All you have to do is source the world’s finest tonewoods, the best hardwear and then knuckle down for a few decades, patiently honing your craft. Now, for me, I stumbled at the first hurdle as it took me a year in woodwork class at school to make a tent peg. But Martin is made of sterner stuff, and in possession of infinitely more talent!

This one, number 196, is made from AAAA grade sitka spruce, with a one piece top. There’s also a one piece back, made from solid ribbon grain mahogany. There’s an Amazonian rosewood fingerboard and bridge (the latter fitted with tintul bridge pins). The fingerboard has a 16” radius. This one has a 38mm nut width too, which is a little more spacious on that fingerboard. Worth Clears are fitted as are superb Gotoh UPT rear facing tuners. Martin has used scalloped spruce X bracing in this build.

Visually speaking, there’s a host of features that, when read as a list, sounds like a lot - but when seen as a whole come together harmoniously. There’s a real skill in adding quite so many extra features, without it looking like you’ve tried too hard. In fact, it looks natural, organic… it just looks ‘right’. Amongst these are the Tru-Oil finish, off centre camphor burl and bloodwood soundhole decoration and headstock veneer, mother of pearl ‘Beck’ logo, bloodwood binding, mother of pearl position markers and a burled camphor tail graft. Oh, and there’s beautiful side soundport too.

Of course, all the skill that goes into these visual features would be wasted if the sound didn’t match but there’s no fear there. Martin is one of the world’s top ukulele builders and sound is the forefront of his mind (he doesn’t have an ear on the front of his head… that’s not what I’m saying, but you know what I mean). This one chimes like a bell, rings true all the way up the fingerboard, projects fantastically well, with brightness and clarity, and sounds full of warmth at the same time.

You have to spend quite a lot of money to get these small gains - these little tweaks and touches that produce such a sound. But, if you’re prepared to invest to get a truly stunning tone, then Martin is your man.

There are some common add ons at the bottom of the page, that can be easily added to your basket. One you won’t need is a hard case, as this is supplied with one (and a strap button too), but you can ask for a fitted low G or get a ukulele strap, if you fancy.