RARE 1927 Vintage Original Roy Smeck VITA-UKE - Harmony Ukelele

Description: This rare 1927 Roy Smeck Vita-Uke is one of the first ones issued by Harmony and is in amazing condition. It's all original except for one replacement tuning peg, and it's rare to find this original bridge with its inlaid wood strip. On the interior, impressed into the wood, is the Harmony logo: "Harmony Co.,Chicago" and a paper label stating "STANDARD APPROVED, National Association of Musical Instruments and Accessories, Mfrs, USA" The lute-shaped Vita-Uke has a bound spruce top, this one featuring the twin soundholes cut in the shape of seals. It has flame mahogany back and sides, a rosewood fretboard with mother of pearl dot markers, and a mahogany neck. The woods are finished in lacquer, hand rubbed and polished. This Vita Uke's fine condition is shown in my photos, but there's a flaw to note that doesn't show: two of the tuning pegs are loose -- the black replacement one and the ivory one below it. Measures: 21.5" long x 8" wide x 2.5" deep Weighs 13 oz. Roy Smeck was a banjo and guitar virtuoso who enjoyed a successful vaudeville career in the 1920s. In a 1926 short film, he dazzled the audience with his phenomenal ukulele skills and he became a national sensation. Harmony’s young president Jay Kraus was inspired to approach Smeck to propose a collaboration on a new design ...and the Vita-Uke was born. In an interview, Smeck said, “They would show me the models they wanted to use my name on and I would show them the kind of action that I liked. The ease of playing an instrument is very important to me...” Kraus described The Roy Smeck Vita-Uke as providing a combination of all the popular features of the ukulele with a new and unusually brilliant tone. The soundholes cut in the shape of seals were designed to create the instrument's signature quality of tone, and the Vita-Ukes are of much higher quality than most instruments that Harmony had created up to that time. Now the Vita-Uke is highly collectable. Here's a link to Smeck's performance in that 1926 film: https://youtu.be/GPlWImn3nK8

Price: 600 USD

Location: Richmond, Virginia

End Time: 2025-01-20T15:07:38.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD