Tacoma Disaster

Rhodes Brothers generic-ish Hawaiian ukulele

AKA: The Hildy Special

This poor little soprano belonged to Great Aunt Hilda, who used to pull it out and play it until, in her deteriorating state of mind, she switched hobbies and instead began amusing herself by putting things in the oven and forgetting about them. She almost burned down her house a couple of times, which would have meant, besides the loss of Great Aunt Hilda, the loss of this fine example of skilled northwestern U.S. ukulele craftsmanship. Or, more probably, skilled northwestern U.S. ukulele importation.

Inside:

RHODES BROS.
HAWAIIAN UKULELE DEALERS
TACOMA, WASH.

The tangled beauty on display here tangentially puts me in mind of the glorious Tacoma, Washington garage band Girl Trouble.

Eventually I will probably remove the neck from The Hildy Special and attach it to an old Marvel Mystery Oil gallon can, if I can find one. (Got one?)