Ono ukuleles are made in Ashland, Oregon by David Ingalls. He’s been making these Ono ukes since 2010 and had previously been involved in boat making and a “serious hobbyist” machinist. David came Hawaii Guild convention a few years ago and impressed us with his sound and build quality of his ukes.Since then they have just continued to improve in quality and tone. David’s now one of our favorite custom uke makers. We interviewed him for a podcast last year here.

Mango 16″ scale Concert

These are “raw” sound samples with no compression of mastering. Use quality headphones or monitors for most accurate sound.

David made this ukulele with a gorgeous Hawaiian mango wood body and it sounds fantastic!  Plus the 16″ scale seems to work just perfectly. Concerts are typically around a 15″ scale and concert long necks aka super concerts have the tenor 17″ scale. So this one sits right in between for a nice mix of brightness and sustain of a longer scale, but not quite as much tension and a little warmer tone than a long neck. Right in the sweet spot for this mango wood concert.

This is the first uke that Dave has inlaid his logo on and we love the look. It’s also accented by a tasteful wood rosette and a cocobolo bridge and radius fretboard.

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Spruce/ Kou 16″ scale concert

This ukulele with a red spruce top and Hawaiian Kou back and sides. Hawaiian Kou is extremely rare. Hundreds of years ago it was prized by Hawaiian royalty for food use: poi bowls, calabashes and utensils. David managed to get a hold a set of this prized Hawaiian wood and it’s made a wonderful ukulele.

This comes standard with a David’s cantilevered fingerboard and has the upgraded bindings and end graft as well as ebony appointments. David also uses a carbon fiber bridge plate and neck reinforcement, Gotoh 4:1 gear ratio tuners, and it’s finished with an oil semi-gloss finish.

Spruce/ Walnut Tenor

This ukulele features a beautiful Adirondack spruce top. I don’t normally call spruce beautiful but this is just a really nice looking, top grade piece of red spruce with nice silking across the entire width. It’s accented by a tasteful original wood rosette and framed off with flame maple binding.

The back and sides are a stunning figured Claro walnut and are really shown off by David’s gloss finish. This is one of the upgrades on this uke, a time intensive pore filled oil finish that looks like a really well done French polish, very clean, professional work.

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Port Orford Cedar Walnut 18″ scale Tenor

This ukulele features a port orford cedar top and Claro walnut sides and back accented with bubinga bindings and a red mallee burl rosette.

Upgrades include a pore-filled high gloss oil finish, a radius ebony fretboard (16″ radius), side sound port, and an extended scale length of 18″. Tenor is normally 17″ in scale. Most tenor “long necks” are 19″. So this sits right between for a touch more clarity, sustain, and roominess on the fretboard.

It has a fantastic sound and some of the most gorgeous curly walnut we’ve ever seen. Take a listen as Kalei samples this brand new custom Ono tenor.

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