ALT UKE MANIFESTO First Published Sept. 2022, Updated Oct. 2025

This blog is a celebration of what I call the ALTERNATIVE UKULELE (Alt Uke for short)—basically any ukulele that does not look like a miniature guitar.

Everybody knows about the ukulele phenomenon—how a Hawaiian folk instrument of the late nineteenth century became a craze in the USA in the early 1900s, and again in the middle of the century, and again in our time—with ukuleles selling like hotcakes all over the world, community ukulele groups blissfully strumming everywhere, and ukulele music making a showing again in popular music like it did in the 1920s.

There really has been nothing like the ukulele in the entire history of world music, as far as I can tell.  The ukulele has become the people’s instrument par excellence, complete with an easy-going, life-affirming, live-and-let-live philosophy surrounding it.

In The Ukulele Handbook, authors Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Tom Hodgkinson use the term “ukulele revolution” to describe the uke’s happy history.

While everybody knows about this small but mighty revolution,  not so much is said about the revolution inside of that revolution: the Alternative Ukulele Movement that has gone on inside of the larger ukulele movement.

A bit of background here. You might have noticed that the world of musical instruments tends to be very conservative.  Once a type of instrument emerges and develops, it reaches a point where standardization sets in, with the instrument soon becoming defined by certain definite parameters—physical  as well as musical parameters.  And sure enough, this been the case for the most part with the ukulele, and one of the important parameters is that a normal ukulele has a body shaped like a guitar.  (And in fact, the uke is often thought of as simply a small type of guitar, even though it has a different number of strings, different tuning, and its own unique sound).

Still, even though this is the standard, and the great majority of ukuleles look exactly like mini guitars (all the way down to the typical decoration on fancier models), alternative types of the uke have nevertheless emerged over time and had some success--which is something you can’t say about any other acoustic stringed instrument.  When was the last time you saw a guitar with a shape other than the “figure eight?”  For that matter, have you ever in your life seen a violin without that scroll thingy on the headstock?  These standard parameters can be very specific!--and virtually obligatory.

Two popular alt uke types introduced in the 1920s

The Fuke--a popular alt uke today

It's really remarkable that there have been so many alternative  ukulele types that have come into the minds of ukulele makers, and then have seen the light of day, and then have even sold a number of copies--and more than a few of these have stuck around over time, their success spawning with copies from various makers.  In fact,  the first Alt Uke I know of, and the trail-blazing grand-daddy of them all, the famous Pineapple Ukulele,  has almost attained the status of the ukulele’s secondary standard type  [pic below].  Usually if you see just one non-guitar-type uke at a music store, it's a Pineapple.  

The innovative Pineapple was brought out by Kamaka in the 1920s.  A more recent popular Alt Uke has been the Fluke/Flea type introduced by Flea Market Music in the 1990s [pic to the right, the Fluke].  And in between, there have been others, some of them shown in the banner at the top of this blog.

I reckon the ukulele has had more variants than other instruments because its small size makes it cheaper,  easier and less time-consuming to experiment with for builders.  And then there is the perceived status of the ukulele, from its beginnings, as a non-serious, “fun” instrument, inviting builders to play around with its form, (sometimes in pretty crazy ways), and inclining players to be open to non-traditional shapes.

Looking at the ukulele movement overall, is it any wonder people go gaga about their ukuleles?  It’s an instrument that does not sit in the corner and silently berate you when you are not practicing enough.  It’s just for fun, after all.  It’s an instrument you can take up, and your friend shows you a couple of chords and you are playing a song within fifteen minutes—and as long as you’re singing along pretty good:  instant success!  On the other hand, if you want to be a virtuoso on the uke, no one will stop you from applying yourself to that noble goal, and by and by your art will be applauded at parties and open-mic sessions, or maybe even in the concert hall.  The ukulele is a win-win deal—and a true friend to humanity!

Focusing in on the Alt Uke Movement, we see yet one more reason to celebrate this marvelous thing called the ukulele.  The uke offers freedom and joy through the music it invites us to make with it—as a starting place or as a destination, just as we choose—plus, it offers surprising amount of creative variety in the physical object we take into our hands to make that music.

You could say this variety is another aspect of that irrepressible ukulele “fun.”  I know it was absolutely the thing that drew me to designing and making ukuleles a few years ago, after many years of being a casual strummer while making my living in construction and woodworking..

If you have chosen to own and play an alternative type of ukulele, or if you build them or would like to do so--what about that?  Tell us about it. 

Maybe you have wondered about the “different” types of ukuleles out there and have questions.  I would like to hear from you, and other ukulele brothers and sisters would too.  

This blog is meant to be an open forum about all things ALT UKE.  

Another forum, open to all but specifically intended for ukulele builders, can be found in the Facebook Group, "Alternative Ukulele Builder."  We have builders and enthusiasts from all over the world, and a lively ongoing exchange of info and ideas and examples of highly creative original work in the "alternative" mode..  Join us!