Ray Vincent Musical Instruments
Ray Vincent Musical Instruments
Handmade ukuleles created with a unique shell back design for a deep sonic musical journey.
I love making ukuleles for two reason’s. One I really like playing them myself and it has become my favorite instrument to play. Two, them being a small instrument and there by the building Time is shorter I get to work on new ideas. Think of it like paintings. When I’m looking at all the beautiful woods I have and inspired by the art world my head is full of so many ideas and instruments I want to build. They really are individual pieces of art.
There’s basically two ways to get one of my ukulele’s. One is to commission me to build you one for you, or keep an eye on my For Sale page and see what’s coming up.
Things that you can choose that I offer are:
Wood types for Shell, neck, soundboard and fingerboard.
Scale length. Concert 15” , Tenor 17” Baritone 19” to 22” Scale length is the distance from the nut to the saddle
Body sizes- you can mix and match body sizes. For example you can ask for a tenor body size with a concert ukulele scale length. (Fingerboard spacing) Large baritone is wider and deeper than my regular baritone. It’s the biggest I offer in ukulele.
Themes- by this I mean if you see a ukulele here that I have made and you like the style or the artistry of it. Let me know.
I have different pickup options for different price point.
I encourage you to use Mi-Si active uke trio pickup. They are the best on the market for several reasons. One they don’t need a heavy battery pack to operate. Two, they are active and have a great sound and (three). easy to install. Check out there website if you want to know more. HERE
I also offer a handmade case at an extra cost. Because of my unique design and allowing people to choose different sizes and such, it’s impossible for me to stock hard cases that would work with everything.
So I do offer included in the price a soft gig bag.
If you want to know more about the handmade case check out HERE
Below are my most recent builds in the order of most recent. You can click on the image and be taken to a page with more pictures, video and detailed information about that build to help give some ideas. Most of them are marked sold because they were a commission.
Baritone Ukulele
2023 for sale
Tenor Ukulele
2023 SOLD
Concert Ukulele
2023 SOLD
Concert Ukulele
2023 SOLD
Baritone Ukulele
2022 SOLD
Baritone Ukulele
2021 SOLD
Tenor Ukulele
2023 SOLD
Tenor Ukulele
2023 SOLD
10 stringTenor Ukulele
2022 SOLD
Tenor Ukulele
2022 SOLD
Concert Ukulele
2023 SOLD
Baritone Ukulele
2021 SOLD
Baritone Ukulele
2021 SOLD
Tenor Ukulele
2021 SOLD
Baritone Ukulele
2021 SOLD
Tenor Ukulele
2021 SOLD
5 string tenor Ukulele
2020 SOLD
Mountain dulcimer Ukulele
2021 SOLD
Concert Ukulele
2020 SOLD
Baritone Ukulele
2020 SOLD
Tenor Ukulele
2020 SOLD
8 string Baritone Ukulele
2019 SOLD
Guitalele
2019 SOLD
Concert Ukulele
2019 SOLD
offerings
Woods
I select all my woods carefully for each project. Thinking about how I want the grain to run for maximum strength to creating a symphony of wood tones and colours.
I buy most of my woods a Exotic Woods, a family run business that knows me well. They sometimes even have something put aside from me. I like one off special pieces.
Parts
The Mi-Si Acoustic Trio Uke system features an active, battery-free preamp designed specifically to work with the L.R. Baggs ukulele pickup.
Gotoh 510 tuners 18:1 ratio for fine tuning.
Included in my builds are these handcrafted tuner knobs, usually made with Cocobolo.
I also include the original tuner knobs if these are not to your liking.
Are the ones I make better?
No, but they look perfect for the instrument.
Carbon Fiber neck reinforcement.
Between using quarter sawn woods for the neck and fingerboards and the carbon fibre , these neck will stay true for a lifetime.
Two strap buttons always included. Matching the tuner hardware.
Ukulele Community
Testimonial
"Hi Ray,
So it’s been a week and a half that I’ve had the ukulele home and I am loving it.
“I am constantly finding small areas of detail about the woodwork that make me smile. I really like the feel of the neck and how easy it is for me to play. That bit of extra width works great and I am finding the sounds that work for me. Thank you.
All the best,
Peter”
“Topping that is more Canary wood for the fingerboard. It's fitted with 24 Evo Gold frets (a superb high end fret material) joined at the body at the 18th. That's very unusual when you consider this is still a 17 inch scale tenor. It gives it the feel of a much larger instrument (and I'm not just talking about the body) with a lot of room to play. Almost like a tenor guitar feel. The frets are polished and dressed as good as any I have any I have ever seen on an instrument as I think some followers will have seen on the sneak peek pictures I shared earlier in the week. They really are outstanding. The position markers are in somewhat unusual positions at the 3rd, 7th and 12th. I say 'unusual', yet these are positions often used on ukuleles, but the lack of a marker at the 5th and 10th at first threw me is all! But it's all about aesthetics as you get those dots added in on the side in small brass inlays! The outward dots are circular cross sections of pine branches like on the back of the body, only much smaller. What a neat idea! They look great!”
Baz from Got a Ukulele. Full review Here.
“The tone is warm and has a woody edge (though I suspect would brighten up with a re-entrant G, which I think I would personally prefer) and has excellent clarity. When strummed the staccato edge gives it much more of a rhythmical, bouncy sound which is spritely and enjoyable, much as you will get when strumming a resonator. What surprised me is how it turns into a different beast when fingerpicked as it has a really pleasant chimey tone to the notes that hold their volume right up the neck and tend to display more sustain too. And of course, if you play both together in chord melody style, a strum here, a picked fill there, you get a bit of both worlds. For me I think it suits melody and picking more than strumming, but I can see how the strummed tone would appeal to a more jazzy / ragtime type tune. I suspect I will get some comments from people who don't think the tone is for them (which is cool) but remember - this is not a Kamaka Tenor with the usual overtones of a trad built double bout instrument. Just like the looks, the sound here is 'different' too. Well, it had to be! Personally, I dig it!”
Baz of Got a ukulele. Full review Here
“I just saw this thread and just thought I'd chime in if someone was reading. I absolutely love my Ray Vincent... I have a blue steel string baritone with a magnetic pickup and it's phenomenal. Easier playability than any other steel string instrument I've tried and even easier than the Koolau CE-1 baritone I got around the same time that was even more expensive, and nylon. They're obviously very different instruments, but I primarily play both plugged in and the Ray Vincent has definitely gotten more use. Beautiful looking, but strumming especially more popular/country/Indie music it really can do things and achieve a sound that other ukuleles just can't even if it isn't necessarily traditional for the instrument by any means.” Sean M
