Jonah Kumalae

Jonah Kumalae
Jonah Kumalae started his Ukulele manufacturing company in Hawaii in 1911 and was the first person to mass produce Ukuleles - making 300 a month at the start, (he may also have been employing other local luthiers to do piece work at this time?). In 1915 Kumalae was the manufacturer who sponsored the Ukulele exhibit at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco. This was the show that really launched the Ukuleles initial popularity, (and earned the P.P.I.E. Gold Award that was proudly put on the headstocks of all Kumalaes after this). Kumalae also signed an exclusive deal for distribution on the Mainland with Sherman Clay & Co. which ran for a while.

For most of the time Kumalae was in business there was a standard catalogue of 6 levels of decoration from style O with a crown headstock and a single ring around the sound hole for a rosette, through A, 3 rings to E with "fancy inlay around sound hole and down centre of fingerboard; and top edge bound with fancy rope pattern inlay; fancy scrolled headstock. Outside of this they did make some with other decorative features as special models for Mainland distributors like Ditson. (after the deal with Sherman Clay expired).

Kumalae is credited with inventing the Mini Scale Ukulele. This might have come about as a result of the small 5 fret (pre P.P.I.E. Gold Award) sales samples they made which are reputedly perfectly playable and are still around in the hands of collectors. Unusually for Hawaiian manufacturers Kumalae also included early Banjoleles in their range for a while, (though these could have been brought in and re-branded?)

There is an unanswered question as to whether Kumalae made other brands of Ukulele or even made unbranded Ukuleles for others to brand? The official answer is no, given the number of Ukuleles sold by others, (like Sherman Clay, Bergstrom and others), that still prominently carried the Kumalae logo and often had "Made by Jonah Kumalae for..." on the sound hole label, however most other Hawaiian Ukulele makers of the time copied the Kumalae catalogue designs, (possibly because they learned the craft in Kumalaes workshop?), and leaving some to question who actually made them?

Production continued until 1940 when Jonah Kumalae died and the factory closed.