ABOVE: Master ukulele maker Chuck Moore is famous among musicians and collectors in part for his intricate inlay work. Moore etches faux ivory on the headstock of an ukulele recently donated to the Hawaiian Music Archives.
We don't need more ukulele," says master luthier Chuck Moore. "We need better and more innovative ones." Which is why he calls his innovative business Moore Bettah Ukes.
Since 1985 Moore has built some eight hundred ukulele, many of which are the most sought-after instruments in the world of ukulele. His highest-quality instruments are usually made from Hawaii Island-sourced koa, though sometimes he uses spruce or milo, with necks of Spanish cedar or Honduran mahogany. Moore crafts each one singlehandedly from his solar-powered workshop in remote Opihikao, Hawaii Island.
He first came to Hawaii from Northern California on a trip he won with a single, $1 raffle ticket he bought at a craft fair, where he was selling his pottery and scrimshaw creations. A lifelong love affair followed, with Moore moving first to Molokai, where he met his wife, Bonnie, and then to Hawaii Island, where the couple now live in a treehouse Moore built.
Moore is renowned for his inlay work—intricate images of people, places, whales, flowers and more rendered in shell, wood and, in older models, ivory. One exceptional uke pays tribute to the voyaging canoe Hokulea, depicting the canoe on the face and its name surrounded by constellations along the fretboard. (Proceeds from the sale of this stunner went to the Polynesian Voyaging Society.) As beautiful as his ukes are, Moore's priority is their sound, because even the most elaborate ones are meant to be played. At one time Moore wouldn't sell an instrument unless the buyer knew at least three Hawaiian tunes.
A tribute to the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokulea, celebrating the canoe's return to Hawaii in 2017 after sailing around the world.
Moore builds some ukes with a specific owner in mind. He built an ukulele with a phoenix rising theme for a man who'd survived personal struggles. For a Native American, Moore decorated the uke with two feathers that had been the man's spirit symbols since boyhood. A Moore uke can range from $5,000 to $20,000, and collectors cherish them—one collector is rumored to have owned twenty-three at one time. Acclaimed Hawaiian musician Ledward Kaapana has three. After hearing Kaapana play in Kona, Moore offered to build one for free, "no strings attached," as Kaapana would joke.
Moore has resisted adding staff or formally teaching, but he has mentored a few Hawaii Island high school students willing to put in the time. Two have opened their own workshops.
Now 71, Moore no longer takes commissions and doesn't keep a waiting list (an e-mail blast notifies followers when a new ukulele is born), but he's building "some of my best work," he says, for his own pleasure. He's currently working on a piece using rare lama and ulu wood as a donation to the Hawaiian Music Archives, a community-funded initiative through the Hawaii State Archives seeking to make rare and historic ukes accessible to the public. "It's a way to give back to Hawaii," Moore says, for all the aloha he has received from the Islands.
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