Pete Howlett Tenor Ukulele

Here is a unique opportunity to purchase an extremely rare and one-of-a-kind tenor ukulele made by world-renowned master luthier Pete Howlett, the luthier of choice of the likes of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and Nigel Kennedy, just to name a few. These are seldom found and you will probably never see this instrument for sale again. 

Howlett Helsinki series background:

In 2007, Pete donated a soprano ukulele to the 1st Helsinki Ukulele Festival, which was raffled off and found a new home in Belgium. The ukulele caused a lot of interest among the festival audience, and the festival organiser suggested that Pete make a batch of 12 of the same ukulele. The series was named “Helsinki Soprano” and became an instant success and sold out in a few days.

Following the success of the Helsinki Soprano, Pete designed the Helsinki Tenor ukulele as a successor to the Soprano and was introduced at the Helsinki Ukulele Festival 2009. This beautiful and unique instrument is built from the same block of solid Koa wood as all 12 Sopranos.

Unfortunately, the Helsinki Tenor project never realised and only this one unique instrument from the series was ever built.

This particular instrument is signed by Pete and is in excellent condition, with no structural defects whatsoever. As its previous and first owner is an established professional musician and it has been “the axe of choice” in numerous tours, international gigs and studio sessions, it goes without saying that it has some minor signs of use. If you are a lucky owner of a Helsinki Soprano, this is a MUST HAVE crown jewel for your collection!

All solid Koa, dreadnought bridge, rosewood fretboard, slotted headstock, Florentine cutaway, Grover tuners. Comes in a strong Gator hard case. The playability is easy and light. The sound is typical of Pete Howlett ukulele; strongly projecting, bright and clear.

Earlier this year Pete announced that he would retire, so it is highly unlikely that you could commission a new ukulele like this from him. If well cared for, this instrument will only increase in value.

Comes in hard case.