In my jetlagged state I have now had 24 hours to really explore the latest Shimo addition to my ever expanding ukulele collection. This one is a walnut soprano uke bought in Tokyo and it’s very different to everything else I have at present.
My first uke was also a concert, the pre-production Collings which was made from mahogany. The “walnut sound” is to my ears somewhere between the Collings and my African Blackwood custom tenor.
As with all Shimo’s instruments it not only looks great, but it also plays great too. Increasingly Shimo reminds me of Stefan Sobell the genius instrument maker from the UK. Both Stefan and Shimo have fantastic attention to detail and no corners are cut. Of course both instrument makers only make to order, so there is a 2 year waiting list, no production lines in sight here!
The detail on the new soprano is fantastic and the tuners look like they were forged from some mountain in Lord of the Rings. When we met up again in Tokyo Shimo commented that he wanted to be “The Morgan car” equivalent to building instruments and in my view he has already certainly surpassed that goal. I have commissioned a second tenor from Shimo for live playing!
