The Asymmetrical Ukulele--Why Not?

 Here's a couple of ukuleles I'm working on now, after a hiatus of several months caused first by my place of work (2nd Chance Wood Co.) moving over the holiday season last year, and then by the Lockdown, when the place was closed.

Both these are concert size ukes.  The Michi-lele I have made over a dozen times before, but the other one is new.  I call it the Aetherea, and it's a departure for me because it's asymmetrical.  Of course the Michi-lele is asymmetrical too, but that's because the whole idea is it's shaped like Michigan, which is itself asymmetrical.

The Aetherea isn't meant to look like anything else--it's an abstract shape. I designed the Aetherea to be asymmetrical just because.

I have touted my ukuleles as "alternative," meaning they are not shaped like standard, normal ukuleles, i.e., miniature guitars.  But all my ukes to this point (except the Michi-lele and Texalele) have been symmetrical along their length--an important aspect of conventionality they share with normal ukes, in spite of them being "alternative" otherwise.

So I guess I thought it was time to make an instrument even more alternative ( or out of whack--?) compared to the normal.

There's no musical reason, as far as I know, to make a ukulele or a guitar or any stringed instrument symmetrical--or at least no reason not to give it a shot, and see for myself what happens musically.

Going asymmetrical to me is just another move in the direction of pursuing creative freedom in the designing and making of ukuleles.

Creative expression in uke building usually--more than nine times out of ten--takes the form of making the conventional guitar-shaped item fancier and fancier with flashy details and rich materials (inlays, intricate bindings and rosettes, exotic woods, and so on).  Decoration is fine, it can be really wonderful, but it is limited because it doesn't touch the basic shape of the thing, which is treated pretty much as a given, a canvas to be painted on. 

I like fooling around with shape--it's the kind of "alternative" I like to explore.  And symmetry/asymmetry is pretty basic to shape, so I think I'll be exploring that some more in the immediate future.

For anyone interested, I have another blog that goes into some of these issues having to do with traditional and non-traditional ukuleles, normal ones and alternative ones: https://altuke.blogspot.com/