In being on the look out for nice Ukuleles I see the work of a number of full and part time luthiers. The instruments they make look very nice and worthy of note.
Based In Fairbanks, Alaska, he works in construction in the summer and makes Guitars and Tenor scale Ukuleles in the winter. He calls his Ukuleles "Chena" and makes a standard acoustic and an electric, (e-chena) version in a number of woods, but with mammoth, (or is it mastodon?), ivory saddles and muskox horn nuts. He has been building instruments since the late 1990's but at the beginning of 2014 said he was taking at least a year off from making them.
He is an apiarist and luthier from Potomac, Montana. He started out making Cigar Box instruments when the bees didn't need his attention and has moved on now to make all sorts of instruments, including cigar box and archtop Ukuleles, specialising in using reclaimed wood and other materials including old bullets. He also makes moustache wax