Category: Articles

“Hall of Fame” Uke
The “HALL OF FAME” UKE was designed in collaboration with Paul Syphers, director of the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum. The body is distinctly Hawaiian in shape, and the headstock is inspired by several historic ukes in the Museum’s collection. The “modern” 13 5/8″ scale length and lightweight mahogany body create surprising volume and a warm, bright tone. The Museum logo appears on the headstock and the soundhole is highlighted with a red veneer binding. With a rosewood fingerboard, ebony nut and saddle, and Grover tuners, the “HALL OF FAME” UKE is available unbound (Style O) or with traditional “tortoise shell” binding and black/white purfling (Style 1). Also available in koa.
A portion of the sale price goes to support the work of the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum.
See Price List for prices.

Joel Eckhaus, Luthier
[email protected]

The ukulele has had a long and close association with the canoe, both in summer and song. The PADDLELELE combines the best attributes of a canoe paddle and a ukulele in a single implement. Made from ash, the traditional timber for paddles, the neck and body are cut from a single piece of wood, with a quartersawn top and back glued to the rim. A thin green veneer is glued around the sound hole, and under the fret board and headstock, with a matching green canoe-shaped bridge. The PADDLELELE is loud enough to be heard over a waterfall, with a tone as bright and clear as the full moon. Don’t be caught up the creek without one! Note: the PADDLELELE should only be used as a paddle in cases of extreme necessity, or photo opportunities.

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Inspired by the work of an anonymous Italian luthier in New York’s Little Italy, the Passione mandolin combines an old world design with a few modern touches inlcuding a graphite-epoxy reinforced neck, 13 7/8″ scale, 10″ radiused fingerboard, X braced top, and Schaller tuners. The sound is sweet and clear, favorable for traditional, ethnic, or classical music. Available in curly maple, walnut, pear, or other exotic tonewoods, with a spruce top, mahogany or maple neck, and ivoroid or tortoid binding.

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Mahogany Leroy

LeRoy

Mahogany Leroy Tenor with Custom Fingerboard Inlay

This concert sized ukulele is inspired by the cool ukes of the 1920s and named for the great uke master, Roy Smeck, “Wizard of the Strings.” LeROY is modeled after the Martin Style 1C, and is a flashy uke with “Mother Of Toilet Seat” headstock and binding, rosewood fingerboard, Grover tuners, and classic koa or mahogany body. The longer scale length and larger body gives the uke a loud, bright tone with more finger room for tight chords. The thirteenth fret allows for that all-important high C (or Bb), and an optional clear plastic pickguard protects the finish above the soundhole without impairing the tone. Also available in standard soprano and tenor sizes.

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Walnut, Koa and Ash Mainlanders

A fine sounding ukulele made from domestic tonewoods. The MAINLANDER fills the need for a basic, decent instrument, without frills. It’s available in standard, concert, or tenor size in a variety of mainland hardwoods, including Maple, Sassafrass, Pear, or Walnut, with a mesquite or pearloid fingerboard and Grover Sta-tite tuners.

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Sassafrass Mainlander

Concert model with Tortoise binding

EARNEST INSTRUMENTS began in 1976. The name was originally inspired by an old Regal Octophone, brought in for repair, that a customer had named, Earnest. I copied the dimensions, built a similar instrument, and EARNEST INSTRUMENTS was born. As the name implies, these are serious instruments, capable of expressing the artistry and technical proficiency of any musician.

I began building instruments in 1973. I studied woodworking at the Shelburne Craft School and at Rochester Institute of Technology with noted cabinetmaker, James Krenov. I apprenticed at the Tourin Musica, in Duxbury, VT, with harpsichord and viol maker, Peter Tourin, and built my first EARNEST mandolin at the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshop, in Elkins, WV. I opened a shop in 1976, and have been playing, teaching, designing, building, and repairing string instruments ever since. 

Additional woodworking experience includes boat building and repair, home renovation, nickelodeon construction, whirligig design and production, fine furniture and cabinetmaking with Gregg Lipton Design, and production guitarmaking with Dana Bourgeois Guitars. I have a degree in vocational education and taught woodworking at Maine College of Art for 13 years. I have guided several lutherie interns, and taught a “freeform” uke making course at Penland School of Crafts.

In addition to being a luthier, I play the mandolin, tenor guitar and banjo, ukulele, and musical saw. I studied uke and banjo with 1920‘s vaudevillian, Roy Smeck, the “Wizard of the Strings”, and mandolin with Tiny Moore, electric mandolin pioneer. I was a founding member of the Arm and Hammer String Band, and has performed with the New York Banjo Ensemble, the Howitzer Mandolin Orchestra, the Neverly Brothers, the Blue Sky Serenaders, the New England New Vaudeville Review, the Pinetones, Dos Eckies, Ham & Legs, Ukulele Eck and the Fabulous Lacklusters, The Cane Gang, Al Dente’s Inferno, Choro Louco, The Ideal Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band, and other aggregations too numerous to recall. I have played and taught at folk and uke festivals around the US and abroad…

In 2018, I built my 500th instrument and decided that it might be time to retire. I still have a few more instruments that I’d like to build, and some beautiful wood that has yet to be used. I’m interested in doing more custom instruments and less of the production models that are still listed on this site, for historical reference. Contact me directly with your ideas and interests, and to see what I might have in stock. I also have numerous vintage tenor guitars and other vintage instruments for sale.

Why anyone would want a V-shaped guitar is a question that only V-shaped guitar owners can answer. But, despite its meteoric crash on the guitar market when originally introduced in the late 50s, the Flying V has endured and, in fact, become a “classic” design in the world of weird shaped guitars. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Earnest Instruments) a tenor V was apparently never produced. Again, why would anyone want a V-shaped tenor guitar? Whatever!

For all those who have been waiting all these decades, here–at last–is the FLYING TV electric tenor guitar. With a bolt-on mahogany neck and two-way adjustable truss rod, the FLYING TV features a rosewood fretboard with pearloid dots, Kent Armstrong mini-humbucker pickups, Gotoh keystone tuners, a tunematic bridge, and a custom V shaped tailpiece. Available in mahogany, alder, or limba (aka Korinna), the FLYING TV can be finished in clear gloss lacquer, or your choice of colors including TV yellow (as shown in the photos).

Great for rock, metal, country, blues, jam, outer space—or wherever you’d want a V-shaped tenor guitar. The FLYING TV is destined restore the V-shaped tenor guitar to its rightful position at the leading edge of the forefront of the avant guard of the je-ne-sais-quoi of tenor guitar music!

See Price List for prices.
Custom colors: please inquire