Laurence White Luthery

Larry is a genuine, honest fellow who loves what he does. I bought my first ukulele from him. He spent close to two hours with me, playing and showing me the differences in the instruments. By the end, I felt like I was making a purchase from a trusted friend. No sales pitch or pressure was felt in the slightest way. He just wanted me to be happy with my purchase. I believe more people playing, the happier he is. He will always be my «go to» guy for repairs and purchases.

I bought a Mainland Classic Concert ukulele from Laurence White via Craigslist. I’m a sloppy guitarist who started on a cheap, tiny soprano ukulele that was too small for me. I enjoyed the simple pleasure of uke playing, but also felt that my particular instrument was getting in the way of my enjoyment. I started stalking guitar stores on my lunch break, pining after ukuleles priced in the $ 500-​$ 1000 range, and also looking on Craigslist for people who lost interest and wanted to sell their nice ukes. You know how it is on Craigslist when you’re looking for one thing for a long time: I kept seeing Laurence’s posts and they started seeming like a more and more interesting idea. He says he’s obsessive about good action (the distance between the fingerboard and the string) and that the uke he was selling is the best quality at the best price. I was skeptical, but after trying the mid-​priced ukes at every guitar store in San Francisco, I decided to buy one of Laurence’s ukes, sight unseen and action un-​fretted.
I cannot account for the recklessness of my decision-​making process here; I just had a good feeling and thought that a conscientious luthier would probably be able to adjust a so-​so instrument into something solidly usable. So I went for it.
He mailed it promptly because I was too impatient to wait for the next time he was driving to the East Bay for in-​person delivery. I got it the next day, and came home from a long day, opened up the box, and found simply the most beautiful uke I’ve ever seen, and an absolute joy to play. I was, and remain, over the moon. The uke arrived perfectly in tune, the action really is sublime, the tuning machines are incredible — I tried $ 300 ukes that did not have as many good qualities as this one that I bought from Laurence for $ 169. Now I’m considering how much better my life can be if I can have a luthier attend to all of my instruments with the expert care that Laurence put into my simple ukulele.