Ukulele finds friend
in Michigan

His instruments sell for more
than $1,500 as far away as Japan

---

By Elizabeth Shaw
Associated Press

SWARTZ CREEK, Mich. >> By day he's a graphic artist designing automotive ads. By night he's the undisputed ukulele king of Swartz Creek.

But you'd be ill advised to consider a Tiny Tim joke at Dave Talsma's expense: This consummate craftsman has an international reputation as a professional luthier (string instrument maker), with his finished products commanding prices from $500 to well more than $1,500.

"I'm a perfectionist by nature," said Talsma, 41, "but you can never make an instrument too perfect."

The ukulele is the descendant of the Portuguese "braguinha," brought to the Hawaiian Islands in 1879. The Hawaiian royalty adopted a redesigned version as their own.

By the early 1900s, the Hawaiian craze hit the mainland, and the ukulele became a favorite of Tin Pan Alley songwriters. In the 1950s, television performer Arthur Godfrey made the uke a household presence.

But it fell into disfavor with rock 'n' roll's arrival -- a demise no doubt hurried along by Tiny Tim, Talsma said.

"As soon as someone hears you play the ukulele, they ask if you know 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips.' I hate that," he said. "I probably have 25 CDs of ukulele music, and it's jazz, classical, just about any kind of music there is."

The underrespected instrument still reigns supreme in Hawaii, where Talsma and wife Denise recently attended an international ukulele festival with 10,000 other fans.

But he's not entirely alone here: Once a month, he gets together with a Flint, Mich., ukulele club just for fun.

"Most of them are retired. I'm the only one my age, so they know all these old songs I've never heard of."

But he doesn't mind.

"I'm kind of an oddball guy, an eccentric. I don't follow normal trends," he said, grinning. "I'm used to not quite fitting in."

Talsma's passion began with his father, Ray Talsma, an ex-Navy man who learned to play while stationed in Hawaii during World War II.

As a young boy in the 1960s, Talsma loved listening to him play such tunes as "Little Grass Shack" on a cheap baritone ukulele.

The childhood interest was rekindled after a work associate, Grady Jones, taught him the luthier's craft in 1996.

"Dave brings a whole new dimension to luthiery," said Jones, an accomplished luthier for more than 20 years. "I measure by micrometer and caliper to get what I want. Dave can take the wood in his hands and know by how it looks and feels."

The self-described "wood freak" imports such exotic stock as Hawaiian koa and Australian lace wood, and considers the wood grain as important to the finished piece as the sound.

Talsma is now on his 24th instrument, with buyers as far away as Japan.

But it all came full circle two years ago, when he surprised his dad with a custom-made ukulele.

"He had tears in his eyes," Talsma said, grinning. "The crazy thing is, he thinks it's so nice, he's afraid to play it. It just sits on a little stand while he plays the old one."