AUCTION: Moore Bettah Spruce/Milo Tenor (#1523)

AUCTION: Moore Bettah Custom Bearclaw Spruce/Milo Tenor with Ameritage Case (#1523)

Moore Bettah is a famous custom ukulele brand made entirely by Chuck Moore in a remote and beautiful area on the Big Island of Hawaii. He crafts unique ukuleles that capture the potential of the instrument.

When I heard this Moore Bettah had arrived I drove down to the store in Haleiwa. I walked in as Aaron was helping a customer and Corey was playing it. I asked him, "How is it?" and Corey answered, "Loud, super loud!." Aaron looked over to say, "That uke is amazing!." I'll add some of my thoughts to that.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles have a signature sound and this one shows it swimmingly. In fact, this dry recording is wet with sustaining overtones. When recording, engineers usually try to create those sounds with compression or reverb. Not so here. That's just the natural sound as Corey noodles around and enjoys the superb playability and tone on this ukulele, and sure, not many can play as fast as he does at times, but just listen to the sound. Beautiful dynamics and tons of presence! It's not about loudness. It's got plenty of volume, but the tonality or voice of this ukulele is what makes it so wonderful.

Features on this instrument include a bearclaw spruce top and milo sides and back. Bearclaw is sitka spruce but a little bit stiffer and for this reason it is one of the most desireable soundboard tonewoods. Milo is a highly respected wood throughout Hawaiian history and a rare and awesome tonewood. It's rich red and brown colors weave with a delicate lacey grain. It's a similar weight and density of koa but seems to have a bit more resonance in the deep bass tones. Together with this bearclaw spruce it makes for a very resonant body.

The carbon fiber reinforced Spanish cedar neck adds sustain, a balanced light weight, and is shaped for ultimate comfort and playability. Speaking of comfort, notice that this ukulele features a smooth and beautiful koa arm bevel. The area your arm rests on is soft and will never cut into your arm after long periods of play!

Chuck has a fantastic design and his overall composition is beautiful. This is shown well on this ukulele with accents like the three-piece faceplate with milo and ebony split by curving purfling strips and framed off with curving flamed koa. Curves are undeniably beautiful if they flow and most lines in Chuck's design that don't need to be straight for musical reasons will curve with a smooth flow adding to the visual appeal. On this ukulele that includes the milo fret markers, which we haven't seen before from him. Very cool! Another unique feature is the coconut tree at the headstock made with curly koa and a perfect cut of dyed maple burl. These things make this instrument a one of a kind piece of art. It's not decked out fancy, but it's definitely a masterpiece made by a true artist and luthier, Chuck Moore.

This is an auction and the details are below.

1. The auction will close on Saturday, October 3, 2015 at 3:30 pm Hawaii time.

2. This is an English format “open bid” auction. The reserve price is $5,500. Any price shown above this is the current prevailing bid. You must bid higher by at least $25.00.

3. You must log in to your TheUkuleleSite account to bid. If you don’t have an account, simply create one. From "My Account" and  under the "My Auction" tab you need to set your auction name and choose when you would like to be emailed. You can also cancel bids from there. 

4. You can bid a fixed amount, or choose Auto Bid. With Auto Bid, you set your maximum bid price and the system will bid as necessary on your behalf up to your Auto Bid maximum price. We will cancel any fixed amount bids that are impratically high or suspect in nature. 

5. We’re also including Going, Going, Gone to simulate a live auction with an auctioneer. With this feature, any new highest bid received in the final sixty [60] seconds will re-set a sixty [60] second window for new bids to be received. As long as a higher bid comes in, the Going, Going, Gone window will re-set again. This cycle will continue until the prevailing bid survives without being overbid within the sixty [60] second window.

6. When the auction ends, the highest bid received at or above the reserve price will be the winner. We must receive your bid for it to count.

7. The highest bid will be invoiced for the full value of the bid and have 24 hours from the invoice date to pay for their purchase in full. If the purchase price is not remitted by the deadline, the next highest bidder may be eligable to buy at their final bid price if we choose to offer it.

8. Hawaii Music Supply reserves the right to invalidate any bids in its sole discretion that it determines have been made for the purpose of collusion or undermining the integrity of the auction. In such an event, Hawaii Music Supply may re-start or cancel the auction or sell to any valid bidders. By entering this auction, all bidders agree that their bids are made with the intention to purchase the instrument featured in the auction at the pricof their highest bid, and all bidders agree to avoid any coordination or collusion with other bidders.

Includes Ko'olau Grey Ameritage case and Oasis humidifier. Good luck and aloha!