Ernest Ka'ai

Ka’ai Ukulele Manufacturing Company
Ernest Ka'ai was the Ukuleles first superstar!

Ka'ai's contribution to the development of the Ukulele cannot be overstated. He wrote the first "how to play the Ukulele" book in 1906, (he wrote another in 1917). This book was revolutionary at the time because it was the first "How to play..." booklet in this style, included a lot of the notations and chord diagram ideas that are seen today, and so invented the format for everything that followed. He was also the first person to advocate the C Tuning (g~C~E~A), for the Ukulele. In 1909 he played at the Alaska/Yukon Exposition in Seattle, and this was the biggest impetus to the Ukulele prior to the Pan Pacific Islands Exposition in 1915. He toured extensively in Asia and Australia in the 1920, introducing the Ukulele to Japan and helping to popularise it throughout the region.

In 1909 he started the Ka'ai Manufacturing company making Ukuleles. In 1917 he sold the company and bought shares in the Aloha Ukulele Manufacturing Co., but the '''Ka'ai Mfg. Co.''' factory carried on without him for another three years though it appears the quality may have dropped. I have seen Ukuleles that don't have a Spanish heel and wooden round bodied models, both of which look Mainland made, but bearing the Earnest Ka'ai headstock logo. However they were made in the '''Ka'ai Mfg. Co.''' factory in Hawaii and have nothing to do with the Larson Brothers in Chicago.

I have also seen that Ka'ai distributed Chris Knutsens Slide Guitars and Harp Ukuleles in Hawaii.