Jose do Espirito Santo

Jose do Espirito Santo


Jose do Espirito Santo was one of the Madeiran Cabinet Makers that came to Hawaii on the Ravenscraig and have been credited along with Manuel Nunes and Augusto Dias with "inventing" the Ukulele.

Jose do Espirito Santo set up as a luthier with his own shop in 1886 and he did make early Ukuleles as well as some of the other Iberian precursor Chordophones. He died in 1905

Whilst it is not possible to say who was the first to make Ukuleles commercially, Jose do Espirito Santo was the first to specifically advertise Ukuleles for sale in 1898.