Ukulele master Kimo Hussey visited Oregon to give a concert and workshop, and while in town he kindly gave a video interview, including this review of the ‘ukulele I made for him earlier this year.

The name Katniss arose because the amazing back wood brought to mind “Catching Fire” in the Hunger Games books. It’s WAY easier to refer to “Katniss” than “the GT with the Swiss spruce top, amazing flamey tiger myrtle back, electric purple-blue-green paua abalone rosette, and Port Orford cedar neck”.

Katniss is a GT–Grand Tenor–a design I created in collaboration with Kimo, who likes a longer-than-usual 19″ scale on his tenor ‘ukulele. In brief, I scaled some famed classical guitars to this 19″ scale and adjusted them for the preferences of uke players.

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Reaching back a few years, here is a fun moment at the 2014 Guild of American Luthiers convention: Kimo Hussey swings “It’s almost like being in love” on one of my ukes.

The video quality is low, but the joy is high!