Skylark Ukulele

I picked up a new ukulele today... well new to me. I don't know too much about it other than it's Chinese and that it's had a hard life! You can see from the photos that it's got dinks and scratches all over it. It plays quite loud and has a good sound. I love it!

Skylark Brand Ukulele - Front

Skylark Brand Ukulele - Back

Below is the logo that appears on a sticker inside the ukulele.

I discovered just now that the Skylark brand is owned by China National Light Industrial Products and was registered in 1980. I don't know if this helps to date the ukulele?

Skylark Brand Ukulele - Made in the People's Republic of China

There is no model number on the ukulele. The only Skylark model I can find on the internet is the MY-109 which looks the same as this one, only the 109 has a picture on the front of a long-haired man playing a ukulele beneath palm trees next to the word 'Hawaii'. Sweet! But not as sweet as my one! Ha ha!

Skylark Brand Ukulele - MY-109

Update: I've spotted a MY-103 for sale in Australia. This has palm trees and a rainbow with 'Hawaii' on the front. It looks like a newer ukulele altogether with modern tuning pegs and 'real' frets.

Skylark Brand Ukulele - MY-103

Update #2: I've spotted another one: a MY-122 for sale in Thailand. It looks like it's the same as the 103 but with different tuning pegs. And, I'm not sure if it's the picture that is distorted, but to my eyes, this looks too big to be a Soprano. Dunno?

Skylark Brand Ukulele - MY-122

Update #3: One more: a MY-168, again from Thailand. Spot the family resemblance?

Skylark Brand Ukulele - MY-168

Update #4: I hope nobody minds me reposting random photos from the internet! You might recognise your carpet in the photo below. I thought it was interesting to post because it contains the original Skylark box.

Skylark Ukulele Box

Update #5: Just spotted this post on the Ukulele Underground forums. Made me laugh. Nice one fergs1!

Skylark Uke Owners Club - Just Kidding!

Update 27-Aug-2012: All the Skylarks are coming home to roost! I'm not sure what has prompted this, but a number of you are coming clean and confessing that you own a mighty Skylark. Strum your Skylarks with pride brothers and sisters! It does seem like most of the Skylarks we're discovering have something wrong with them. Oh dear! Never mind... we can fix all of this! I've asked for photos from a number of you and the offer is still there: If you own a Skylark and are willing to share some photos then please send them to me and I'll add to this post (email address in the comments). Together we can build a shrine to Skylark!

Here are some photos of CB's Skylark MY-103. Thank you CB. Didn't she do well!

Skylark MY-103: Front and Back

The front is painted with a rainbow and the word 'HAWAII', birds,
and palm trees. The tag on the inside of the sound hole says
'Skylark Brand,' half-covered by something. The strings are clear.
Probably replaced sometime before I got the ukulele.
Old fashioned tuning pegs. Though it is not visible in the photo,
they do not work well anymore.

Update 27-Aug-2012: Gin Cameron has been kind enough to provide us with a picture of her Skylark MY-107 and box. Save the colour of the pegs, this looks a lot like mine! She's a beauty!

There you go ......the other side of the box has chinese writing and
'Canton, China' in English. Mine has black plastic tuning pegs
that spring back alot and generally the paint and varnish is pretty bad.
The nut and saddle seem really high. No dings or scrapes on the
body etc so barely used. Also seems to have been strung left-handed -
with fishing line ;)

Ha ha Gin... I think that the "fishing line" is the original nylon string that the uke comes with! On using fishing line: I found this fantastic snippet about stringing banjos with nylon fishing line. People actually do it! Check it out on this banjo post. Give the tuners a gentle tap with a hammer and it should put them right (for a while). Thank you for sharing this picture with us!

Update 22-Nov-2012: Keith Hunniford, the Grand Poobah of Skylark ukulele has been kind enough to share with some brilliant photos and an equally brilliant story.

Hi there. So I grew up in Northern Ireland, and this was purchased around 
the Christmas of 1970 and it's been with me all over the world ever since.  
I'm now in the US in Colorado where the air is very dry and it was in a very 
bad state, but for my Birthday yesterday (45!) my girlfriend had sneaked it 
away to a restorer and it is now playing like new but with a beautiful 
soft old tone.Some interesting things about it.. Firstly, the label.  Looks like 
at some point in history the label has changed from "Made in China" 

like mine to "Made in the Peoples Republic of China" like yours.  That 
would be an interesting date to know for dating purposes for sure. 

My tuning pegs are of a darker wood than I'm seeing in your pics,

 so that must have changed over the years too. Also, I kinda love the 

old Matchettes of Belfast sticker on the back. Matchettes is still going 

strong. http://www.matchettsmusic.com/ Apart from that, I've always 

thought later in life compared to other Ukes this is of pretty good 

quality.  At 42 with many hours of play on it the frets are still 

sharp and true and after a bit of wire wool the restorer has brought 

them back to perfection. 

Update 6-Apr-2013: I am very pleased to be adding the next Skylark to the list. This one is courtesy of Michael Sullivan. Thank you Michael!

Michael says that he has had this MY-109 Skylark since the late 70s. It looks
like it has been well loved and perhaps used as a weapon at some point.
This is an unusual specimen on a couple of fronts. See the palm trees...
they're sideways compared to other Skylarks I've seen before. And
look at the fretboard where it meets the body... it's a curved ying and
yang-type affair. Very interesting! :-) Michael says he remembers a
box very similar to those pictured on this page and the wood being a
lot yellower when he first got it. Beautiful!

Here's a first! Michael has put together a sound check for us. I think I recognise the tune ;-P