Custom Pepe Romero Tenor Ukulele

Beautiful and rare Pepe Romero Jr. ‘Series 5’ Tenor Ukulele handcrafted by Pepe in 2012 with Bruce Shimabukuro in mind – and remains in immaculate original and unplayed condition.

Pepe Romero Jr. Biography

Pepe Romero Jr. was born into a family that lives the Spanish guitar.  From his childhood Pepe loved the guitar.  He grew up playing some of the world’s greatest guitars from the incredible collection of his father.  Growing up surrounded by guitars made by Torres, Esteso, Santos Hernandez, Hauser, and Miguel Rodriguez set the standard for how a guitar should be made.

At 18 years old Pepe went to the workshop of Dake Traphagen to build a guitar.  Upon completion of this guitar, Pepe decided to dedicate himself to being a builder.  In 1997, Pepe was lucky enough to spend time in the workshop of Miguel Rodriguez shortly before he passed away.  He moved on to study with and receive guidance from J.L. Romanillos, Manuel Contreras II, Yuris Zeltins and Edmund Blöchinger.  Pepe and Blöchinger have become great friends and have made 2 guitars together.

Pepe is heavily influenced by the Rodriguez guitars.  His style of building is very similar to Rodriguez.  He is also inspired by the elegant look and beautiful sound of the guitars by Santos Hernandez and Domingo Esteso. As of spring 2017, Pepe has made over 275 guitars.  Each one is hand crafted and built in the traditional spanish method.  His guitars are in great demand by concert guitarists and collectors worldwide.  He has a waiting list of about 2-3 years for new guitars. He has handcrafted a relatively small number of ukuleles in comparison to his guitars but they play beautifully and have a focus on tone, sustain, and projection.

This ukulele was Pepe’s Bruce Shimabukuro model. It was handcrafted of curly Hawaiian Koa wood back and sides with a Western Red Cedar soundboard, Macassary Ebony wood fingerboard and Brazilian Rosewood bridge with a matching Ebony wood top and back binding. It also features beautiful abalone in the rosette and a matching abalone top purfling on the soundboard as well.  Pepe used some of his finest materials for the Series 5.  In designing this model, Bruce requested that the body be joined at the fourteenth fret, that it includes a great pickup system, and that it have a cedar top and a koa body.  French polish. Gotoh Stealth tuners.

The tone is very warm and powerful with great sustain and projection.  Pepe installed a Schertler Resacoil pickup system so that it could be played in front of a large audience.

Price: SOLD