Northern

Northern
Northern was set up by J(ohn) Chalmers Doane in Canada in the late 60's to produce Ukuleles for a, (Canadian), school music program that ran through most of the 70's.

The Ukuleles were made of laminate mahogany and came with a vinyl soft carry case, though the original prototype was made by a Japanese luthier and was spruce topped and all solid wood. For the schools program the Ukuleles were mainly Concert scale, (there were some Sopranos made too), and a distinctive triangular shape. They were branded with the Maple Leaf and Northern on the front of the headstock, and the "Made In Japan" sticker on the back. There was also an unusual method of getting a good string angle after the nut with two sets of holes for threading the strings through the headstock and then back to the top to be wound onto the tuners.

Though most famous for the triangular "school" Ukulele, they marketed some traditional figure " 8"shaped Ukuleles with a more normal method of getting the strings to the tuners.

All of the Ukuleles, both the schools ones and the figure "8" ones, (apart from the prototype), were made in Japan by the Mitsuba Gakki Co.

At some stage in the 1970's and for some reason, (possibly the ending of the school program? Possibly something else?), the brand name Northern and the maple leaf was dropped and they started to be branded with Doane and a map of Canada on the headstock, (still made in Japan by Mitsuba Gakki Co. thought)