As I stood there at the Merrie Monarch people complimented the artwork around me.  Since an early age I found that God had given me the ability to see beauty in nature that most could not.  I also found that I could use my hands to pass this image or feeling on to others to experience whether by drawing, painting, woodworking or in the building of ukuleles by using native woods and materials.  Therefore a part of me is in every one of my pieces.

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It pains me to let go of a piece, sometimes even a sense of loss. But I take great solace in knowing that whoever has that piece can go to it to get that feeling, that experience, which is a piece of me that is in there.

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The feedback from my work was so positive that in 2007 I gave up my long time job to pursue this calling.  I've received so much help from so many in my community.  I feel so blessed that so many good people have reached out and lent me a hand or opened a door for me.

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So there I stood at my table in the middle of the Merrie Monarch Festival Craft Fair. My artwork and mirrors were hanging behind me.  My woodwork was in front on a table.  I had frames, jewelry boxes, and my ukuleles. 

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Among the people passing to and from booths, a women came up to me and said.

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"You should come over and talk to my husband." 

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I looked at her and she said, "His name is David."

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"David," I said.

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"David Hurd," she replied.

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"Kawika." spilled from my lips.  I started rambling how much in awe I was of him, how he was the greatest ukulele builder of all time.  It was probably stuff she hears all the time.  She politely gave me their telephone number and quietly left.  I thought to myself, "So surreal. Did that just happen?"

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The rest of the day was a rush.  There in so many people was so much love at the Merrie Monarch. Later that night at home while wondering if it was a real encounter or just a blur of thoughts that had happened that day, I mustered up the courage to call that number.  He told me to bring one of my ukuleles for him to critique, so I met Dave the next morning and my education into the world of sound began.  Eleven years later and I am so privileged to call Dave and Helen my friends.

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Talking to Dave one day, he told me,

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"You're an excellent wood worker. Your joints tight, your work clean, but you knew nothing of sound.  We were on two opposite ends of the ukulele spectrum."

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You see Dave's on the cutting edge of this knowledge.  He is the author of "Left Brain Lutherie."

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His strong science background allows him to use physics and engineering concepts, and apply it to his instrument building (wood properties, stiffness, thickness, matching back to soundboard, mechanical compliance mapping, string compensation, neck stiffness, hole size, bridge size, bridge plates, fingerboard thickness, scales, bracing, you get the picture. (See www.ukuleles.com). So you see he was my missing piece and he knew that.

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He taught me at my own pace, "small steps" as he would say, to make sure I understood what he was passing on to me.  His knowledge, his patience, his time, even some of his equipment and supplies, were all given to me by him.  He asked for nothing in return (except for that one time I helped them wheel barrel gravel around in their yard!). I will be forever indebted to him for all he has taught and continues to teach me, not only about sound but about life.

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One day I asked him.

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"Dave, when I'm asked about you, what should I say you're my teacher or what...?"

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Dave smiled and said,

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"Tell them you're my friend, my good friend."

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Dave Hurd has retired and no longer builds his world famous "Kawika" ukuleles.  If you own one, you are a very luck person.

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