Bill’s Ukulele

This is Bill’s ukulele, which he recently placed in my care. I was talking with him on the phone, for the first time in something like 20 years, when he offered to give it to me. I’d mentioned that I’d been playing the ukulele lately, and he said something like, “I have this old bass ukulele, which I haven’t picked up in at least 40 years. I’d love to give it to someone who’d make good use of it.” (He said “bass,” but really it’s a baritone.) I didn’t say I’d take ownership of it — that didn’t feel right — so I said, “I’d be happy to look after your ukulele.” A week or so later, it arrived at my desk at work. It was a little beaten up, the strings definitely needed replacing, and the frets were tarnished, but it still had a really pleasant sound. I took it down to the repair shop (Gryphon in Palo Alto), and they gave it a restoration / tune-up job. The result is as you can see above.

The Backstory

I was talking with Bill on the phone while I was on vacation in Tampa — the city I did much of my growing up in — whereas when I’d planned my vacation I’d expected to see him in person. More to the point, I expected to see his son John, who was my best friend in high school. Unfortunately, both of them were otherwise occupied while I was there: John had just a month prior gotten diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and I was speaking with Bill the day after John’s second surgery. Understandably, neither of them was in condition to see guests at the time, and I’m happy I even had a chance to send my regards and well wishes over the phone, if not in person.

John is on the mend now, and in addition to having a new-to-me instrument to keep me company, out of these strange circumstances, I also ended up meeting John’s cousin, who also lives in San Francisco. She, I, and our respective partners all met up for Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe (where Irish Coffee was invented, apparently), per Bill’s instructions.