Whatever happened to Mike Pereira?

[Kei]

Recently there was discussion of a Mike Pereira tenor ukulele that passed through my hands briefly. Which got me wondering about the luthier. It seems I am a bit late to the party to have been around for a time when he was present. He used to sell his instruments through a few dealers in the USA like Mim's and Uke Republic. But his website is shut down and there seems to be no trace of the guy. Which got me wondering...whatever happened to Mike Pereira?

I emailed Mim but received no reply. I see that Ken Middleton was a big fan of the ukuleles but haven't yet contacted him. I watched one YouTube review by Ken of an MP Cali Tenor that sounded particularly sweet for an otherwise austere and understated hand built instrument. In the video he shows a very nice, blingy MP Ukulele to compare two sides of the same craftsman/artist. This was similar to the one I had and I agree with Ken on the quality of the build. It just makes it all that much more mysterious to me why he disappeared when building top-of-the-line ukuleles.

I thought I'd turn to the august ukulele hivemind here first to see if anyone has any information on the guy. The one piece of information I was able to find was a check of his website on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine which had archived a page where he held forth on his views of 432hz tuning vs. 440hz. To put it diplomatically, it starts to veer into territory that could be interpreted as somewhat fraught.

 

[70sSanO]

I think Mike retired.

John

 

[badhabits]

Pretty sure I read somewhere fairly recently that he retired

 

[John Colter]

Hopefully Mike is enjoying his retirement.

As an aside. I don't think A=432Hz has is the fashion at present, instead C5 = 528Hz seems to be more in vogue. Many get it mixed up with music, but C5 = 528Hz is about healing and medical stuff and is said to be a frequency that helps your body and brain. You can read all the stuff and work it out for yourself. If you want to try a practical an easy experiment to see if 528Hz does make any difference to you and your group, it is very easy with the tuner technology we currently use. Just adjust the reference A note on your tuner to A = 444Hz and the device will do the math so that when you tune, the pitch of C5 on your uke should be 528Hz. The C5 note is found at fret 3 of the A string, it is also on the other strings and you can work out which frets yourselves. Just do your normal group activities and you will be generating all the good health inducing frequencies while you have some ukulele fun, but don't forget to tell your ears it might sound a few cents high.

If you really want to have some musical mischief and fun in your ukulele group, get everyone to set their tuner up with A = 444Hz, so you generate C5 = 528Hz and the alleged medical benefits. Try it for a while and speak about the miracle cures. Post some comments on the results on UkeTalk and created some data based debate about 528Hz for a change from discussing how much ukes cost and strings and operating your Used Ukulele Barn. When you have an audience or mix with other musical people, and they say you sound a bit high, expound the benefits of 528Hz and get them to re-tune to your group instead of vice versa, and then talk about how their health is improving.

Maybe Mike still follows UU and would enjoy the content? If you like his ukuleles, you could post some photos and content on why you like them.

Thanks for the suggestion, Bill.

 

[hollisdwyer]

Mike is definitely taking a break from crafting Ukes. My first custom Uke, which I purchased 2nd hand, was made by him. Since then I always keep an eye on his output and last year I noticed that he was selling off some NOS instruments. I had had my eye on his beautiful semi hollow bodied electric tenors for sometime and as my birthday was coming up I decided I would purchase just one more Uke. So now that I’m performing at an open mic every month as part of a country blues duo, I find that it is one of my favourites and am so glad that I treated myself on that occasion.

 

[warndt]

My first custom was a beautiful MP "100 year old" Redwood top salvaged from his cabin, Padauk B&S #41 Concert Pineapple. I remember him being so patient with me during the order process... Thanks again Mike!

 

[keenonuke]

Mike is definitely taking a break from crafting Ukes. My first custom Uke, which I purchased 2nd hand, was made by him. Since then I always keep an eye on his output and last year I noticed that he was selling off some NOS instruments. I had had my eye on his beautiful semi hollow bodied electric tenors for sometime and as my birthday was coming up I decided I would purchase just one more Uke. So now that I’m performing at an open mic every month as part of a country blues duo, I find that it is one of my favourites and am so glad that I treated myself on that occasion.

That is spectacular

 

[bbkobabe]

Nothing lasts forever...

 

[wdonley]

I think he's still working with National. I'll ask a friend who's next door to them. . I've got # 67. It's such a great playing uke. The neck profile is so comfortable. Mike's a great guy, but maybe both gigs were too much to balance.