ZAMBRA UKULELES from Portugal (discontinued)

Greetings from Ron Fernandez. We have discontinued importing Zambra Ukuleles from Portugal. These ukes were very good value for an all- solid instrument. They sounded great and played easily. They will be missed. We will continue to distribute the excellent ukueles. You can see our KIWAYA Ukulele page at: http://www.fernandezmusic.com/Kiwaya_Ukuleles.html

BELOW is the old Webpage for ZAMBRA Ukuleles

We import fine solid wood ukuleles from Portugal made of black acacia. Black acacia (Acacia melanoxylon) is a close relative of koa wood (Acacia koa). Some of our ukes have spruce faces and some have black acacia faces. These are good sounding and easy playing ukes. We have stock in soprano, concert, tenor and 8 string models.

Left to right: spruce face Tenor Classic, Soprano Traditional with acacia face and back, Concert Traditional

Left to right: 8 string Tenor Classic with cedar face and acacia back, spruce face Tenor Classic

Our ukes range from $450 to $650 (case included).

And, we also have very nice hardshell cases for these instruments.

Each Zambra Uke has a real bone saddle and nut. And, I have personally dressed the frets and adjusted the playing action.

While the 19th century Hawaiians gave us the name "ukulele", this enchanting little guitar was actually developed in Portugal by the 17th century where it was known as the cavaquinho, machinho or braguinha. According to Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira in his Instrumentos Musicais Populares Portugueses (2000: 176-181), the 4 and 5 string machinho was mentioned in the documents of the guitarmakers' guild in Guimarães (northern Portugal) in 1719.

In 1869, João (John) Fernandes, a native from Madeira Island, is reported to have brought the cavaquinho to the Sandwich Islands (present day Hawaii) where the natives renamed it ukulele, which means "jumping flea".

Below is a traditional cavaquinho made in the style of Minho, a region of Portugal. Made in the traditional style and strung with metal strings. It does not have a raised fingerboard which modern ukes usually have.

Left to right: Traditional Cavaquinho next to modern Zambra Ukulele

Below is a Brazilian version of the cavaquinho made by Roberto Paura of Rio de Janeiro. Notice that the upper and lower bouts are a bit wider than its Portuguese cousin.

As a child I received a birthday present of a uke during the Arthur Godfrey ukulele craze of the 1950's. Since that time I had always been fascinated by this charming instrument but it was not until the 1990's that I started attending a ukulele player's group at the Oasis Center in Corona del Mar, California. This group had some fine players who were a real inspiration to me. I greatly enjoyed learning old standards on this marvelous little instrument and watching the local masters perform.

Over the years the design of the modern Hawaiian style ukulele was brought back to Portugal. And now, because of my long time connections with Portugal, I have been able to find a maker of very good solid wood ukes in Portugal who can supply me with great sounding instruments.

When I discovered a number of years ago that João Fernandes had brought the ancestor of the ukulele to Hawaii I was amused. Now that I (a "Fernandez" with roots in northwest Spain) am importing ukes to America I have started to think about the mysterious workings of history and fate...

Please inquire by email about particulars: ron@fernandezmusic.com

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