Grimes

Steve Grimes is a legendary guitar maker. George Benson, Keola Beamer, Willie Nelson, and many other professional guitar players have chosen Grimes guitars because they are awesome! Steve is a musician and and the way he voices and sets up his instruments shows a passion for the tone and feel that make an instrument great. On top of that he builds with a gallery style beauty, both in design and execution, that attracts collectors and enthusiasts. So as you can imagine, Steve has stayed too busy to provide us many, but here’s a few that we have gotten. Enjoy!

Koa Tenor

These are “raw” sound samples with no compression of mastering. Use quality headphones or monitors for most accurate sound.
Steve has a standard tenor build style but with a slightly lighter weight and an open clear tones and rich sustaining overtones. He pretty much always uses amazing woods, in look and acoustic quality. This is a great example.

This Maui built tenor has a master grade koa body that gives an open and warm voicing like a great vintage uke. Grimes set it up with super low action, so easy to play, and of course a perfect neck set and curvature to allow this extreme play-ability.



Redwood/ Ziricote Tenor

This one features sinker redwood for the soundboard. This unique and beautiful wood is found in Northern California rivers where it often has been submerged for over 100 years. The piece Steve used on this ukulele is of the finest quality and features rich mineral coloring and super tight grain. Sinker redwood has been referred to as “cedar on steroids.” It has redwood warmth with a little extra brightness.

The back and sides are stunning Ziricote, a Central American wood the same density and tonal character as Brazilian Rosewood but even more striking in look. This fantastic tone wood long with the redwood top make for an amazing sounding custom tenor.


Redwood/ Kingwood Tenor

This custom Grimes has a gorgeous look and sound with a sinker redwood top and a Brazilian wood called Kingwood on the sides and back. Here’s some details from Cook Woods.

Dalbergia caerensis. A rare rosewood with violet and light black streaks. From the Atlantic forest in Brazil. King wood has been the wood of King’s for hundreds of years in France, England, and Europe. Beautiful violet purple color. Extremely Rare and High Quality. Kingwood has a very similar “bell like” tap tone to Brazilian Rosewood. Kingwood is rare in itself and is an exceptional acoustic wood!

Framed off with blood wood and protected with a sweet gloss finish. Awesome feel and just wonderful tone.



Walnut Tenor

As you can hear, this all-walnut tenor has big warm tone like you rarely encounter. On top of that, it’s a breeze to play with nice low action. And what’s obvious from the pictures, is it is so beautiful!

These instruments were samples with the strings that were included with them and I believe they were all Hilo strings, which Bob Gleason used to make and is no longer in production. They are a fairly flat nylon sound not much different than Kamaka strings or Ko’olau Mahana. Other strings will bring out more dynamics, brightness, or sustain, but even with the Hilo strings (which aren’t bad string) Grimes ukes sound wonderful. I’ve really liked fluorocarbon sets on Grimes but a, but a good uke is a good uke.


Spruce/ Brazilian Rosewood Tenor

This beaut has a Brazilian rosewood body and a German Spruce top framed off with curly koa binding. It is more expensive because of this prized and rare wood, but it looks and sounds amazing. And the feel, like butter! Very low action and a medium slender neck. Bottom line; This is an ultimate tenor ukulele in look, sound, and feel!

Grimes ukulele are “high end” instruments. But for those with the luxury of a big budget, they’re worth every penny!

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