Shelley Rickey plays "Tonight, You Belong to Me" on her handmade cigar-box ukulele.

Previously:

Read more in Music at Boing Boing

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Anonymous

Boxbrown, try Janet Kllein’s version of this song on youtube-she sings it in a very period 20s mode(as well as gives a tutorial on how to play this very song, that methinks this woman has watched too). More fun.
weatherman

shelleyrickey; you are deservedly “obnoxiously proud” of your creation, but that uke still does a disservice to your voice.
Maddy

#8 — guess we’ll be seeing you at Pink Panther 2, or maybe one of the father of the bride movies.
kiddr01

cute girls with ukes are really starting to get on my tits – where are they all coming from!! is there a school or something!
hg

Captivating video. Great voice !
Anonymous

I have zero problem with Shelley’s voice. In fact, this is the first voice I’ve heard in quite a while that would draw me to the store to buy her albums.
David Newland

#15

I do love seeing the bookends of the contemporary uke experience – from Jake to the web-cam uke players – I’m just keen to see some credit given to the people who have been dedicating themselves to this most delightful of instruments all along.
Patrick Dodds

Neat. And nice voice too.
diggum

woof!
artbot

Resisitance…weakening……..must…make…derisive…cute-girl-with-uke-on-bb-again…comment……steampunk…something….something….voice…too….beautiful….must!..resist!….
Maddy

ah, reminds me of when Steve Martin was funny and smart …
Mark Frauenfelder

David, you might enjoy a blog I started about five years ago, called ukulelia.com.
Slicklines

Epic win. Perfect for a Directory of Wonderful Things.
richlb

Where’s the trumpet solo?
ill lich

Yeah “you haoles”. . . it’s pronounced “cavaquinho-tuned-incorrectly.” ;)
se7a7n7

yea, I was waiting for Bernadette Peters to pop up with her trumpet.
Tyro Prate

Along the same lines, here’s an Instructable on how to build a cookie tin banjo. The author’s comments are pretty funny, too.

http://bit.ly/6CCd
arkizzle

The torrents of cute ukers will continue unabated, and no body will get hurt!
Takuan

Dear Miss Rickey:
I would consider it an honour to consume your Eternal Soul. (In a non-creepy way of course).
ShelleyRickey

Wow, Thanks Mark for posting me on BoingBoing….Neato!!!

And thanks for all the compliments everybody…
sweet!
Anonymous

beautiful, thankyou cigar box ukulele girl!
stuiethegod

Somebody give this girl some zither pins, I be she has to re-tune that thing all the time.

Otherwise, it’s an awesome uke.
arkizzle

Shelley, you rock!!
grimc

Yeah, but is it ha-WAI-ee or ha-VAI-ee?
Anonymous

Can you haoles please learn to pronounce it correctly?

It’s not YEW-ka-lay-lay!

It’s OO-ka-lay-lay.
Mark Frauenfelder

Steve Martin is, in my opinion, as funny and smart as he ever was.
boxbrown

Can someone please find a chick playing a ukulele that doesn’t feature a mock-soul sounding voice? American Idol has penetrated the alt-ukulele scene, sadly.
jimh

I dunno about the rest of ya’s, but I cannot get enough of the cute girls with OOks! Keep ‘em coming, Mark!
yri

OMG, I fell in love with her even before I heard her voice, but then even more when I did!
Jake von Slatt

Give that lady a steampunk cake! Delightful!
Anonymous

Pretty girl!!
Anonymous

She’s beyond cute: She’s edible.
shanespeal

There’s free plans: How to build a cigar box guitar – http://www.cigarboxnation.com Click the Plans tab.

Songs Inside the Box, the cigar box guitar documentary: http://www.songsinsidethebox.com

Cigar Box Guitar recordings: http://www.cigarboxguitar.etsy.com
hadlock

Note, don’t use the make magazine instructions word for word, they suggest gluing the neck to the top of the box(!!) I made my first one using their plans, but there’s a 100% increase in satisfaction when you create the throat joint so the neck goes through the body instead of on top of it. Hers is constructed pretty well, but I’d probably go with some real tuners and some metal frets(transmits vibration better, gives better tone).
David Newland

It’s great for all us uke players to see our fellow aficionados getting all this attention.

Still, I can’t help but wonder, in looking at your link list and casting my mind back over other uke posts:

Are you favouring a certain sort of geek chic aesthetic in which the uke features mostly as a cute novelty?

Draw the box wide: the uke is a real instrument with a long history and a vital presence in many musicians’ lives.

It is much more than a novelty or a recent web fad. Its proponents come in all shapes, sizes, and sexes and there is much more to it than lo-fi home-made charm.

As much as I love this lo-fi home-made charm!
Anonymous

I am so in love! But not in a creepy way, honest. If only a smart talented pretty soulful woman like this would cross my path in RL… Post more of her and her creations, and anyone else remotely this wonderful.
Jack

This was excellent!
Mr_Orion

Please, marry me.
Mark Frauenfelder

What, David, you want me to show amateurs like this fumble fingered guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcQYt7xvA8M
Antinous / Moderator

Hey! Male hotties can play the uke, too.
David Newland

Thanks Mark! I feel a whole lot better for that Smeck-down!