Thanks for the heads up on the cocobolo, Brian.

In May 2005, Anita Coyoli-Cullen and Shirley Orlando began to send care packages to troops in Iraq, not filled with cookies or body armor but with ukuleles, complete with tuners and song books. By May 2006, Coyoli-Cullen, whose daughter served in Afghanistan, and Orlando, who owns the Hawaiian Gift Shop in Huntington Beach, CA, had sent over 600 donated ukes from California to Iraq in the “Ukes for Troops” project. At first they shipped the instruments mostly to the Hawaiian National Guard units, but now requests are coming from all sorts of units stationed in Iraq.

“The response from the troops and their families has been overwhelming,” says Coyoli-Cullen. “We have received many pictures and e-mails from the units who get the ukuleles. They told us how they go to sleep at night with the sound of the ukuleles and wake up to the sound of them. The Iraqis love hearing them play and even come into the compound so that they can listen to this strange new instrument. Some of the Iraqi soldiers being trained have even asked to be taught how to play the ukulele themselves.”

Requests for ukes continue to pour in from beginners and experienced players stationed in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. According to Coyoli-Cullen, “we don’t just send over one ukulele to a trooper. When a request for an uke comes in, we send 12 ukes to the unit, so that they can all learn to play together.” The organization depends on donations of instruments and cash to their non-profit organization in order to supply troops with ukes. Thanks to a generous wholesaler, each $75 uke costs only $25, including a songbook and postage. Additonally, the Hawaiian Ukulele manufacture, Ko’aloha, sends 20 of their $175 Ko’alana ukes to them per month. If you are interested in this worthwhile project and would like to offer your support, see the website: http://www.ukesfortroops.com.

I’ll let you know when the uke is finished. This was my inspiration – http://www.risa-music.de/English/Products/Solids/solids.html

I already own a Uke Stick but wanted to build one that suited my “style”.

By the way, Cool Site!

Later I looked up “Chechen”. Turns out that it’s also called…wait for it…”black poisonwood”.

http://www.thenakedplank.com/chechen.html

Gee, I wonder why the place I picked up the plank from didn’t mention that! :)

Btw TVR has an extensive luthiery section.

http://technicalvideorental.com/rental_39.html

Actually, my next band is going to be the “The Finks” (a lodefink family band).

I hope to play uke. Not sure what Ivan is going to play, but Harlan is deffinately on drums. I tried to start him on “ta ta tee tee ta” but he busted right into double flamadiddles!

steve