Beau Hannam Maccaferri Style Custom Tenor

This is a Beau Hannam Maccaferri Tenor ukulele custom made for someone that had to pass on it and we scooped it up to show you guys. If you don’t remember I reviewed one in 2013 here-. That one sounded great and we were eager to hear another. Let’s take a look at it first and get some specs and features covered.

I would consider this to be under the “jumbo tenor” category. The lower bout on this uke is about 10.5″ and it best fits in an Oahu baritone case, but it’s a 17″ scale tenor. It’s made very solid at 32 ounces in weight but has a nice balance and feels comfortable. The neck is a nice medium thickness and the action is low.

This larger Maccaferri style is actually less boomy than the regular Hannam tenor we reviewed, but the sustain and note clarity are incredible on this new style. It’s controlled on the lows which is great for recording, almost a guitar like compression. There’s a lot to admire visually, the sunburst is beautiful, love the trapezoid fret markers, many other little features.

There are a few minor cosmetic things we can take care of. First thing that caught my attention was along the binding at the neck, a few little spots where the finish was eaten through. Perhaps by superglue run off from fretwork or something like that? This is something we can fix properly because our workshop is in the same building as Ko’olau. In a few weeks, it’ll be like that finish flaw never happened! Beyond that, I think the back just needs a good buffing (as they say in Australia?) The scratches on the back scared me at first, but they’ll buff out. It’s not in the wood, just odd surface scratches. Only other little thing is that, I’ll take the G forward a touch on the saddle. It’s a hair flat on just that one string but there is plenty room to get it dead on.

It’s not uncommon for us to work on an instrument. Final QC is what we do. Beau is a really talented luthier with a good design; tone, feel, and look.

Hopefully, with the help of Aaron, I captured this rare beast. It’s a great ukulele, without a doubt. Mahalo for tuning in. Enjoy~