The ukulele might not be everyone’s first choice when it comes to instruments, but it has struck a chord with a western Massachusetts couple who have grown their business around it. And it’s no fluke.Well, actually it is a fluke. It’s the Magic Fluke Company in Sheffield, Massachusetts. It was started in 1999 by husband and wife team Dale and Phyllis Webb after Phyllis’ brother Jim Beloff, also known as Jumpin’ Jim, started writing songbooks for the ukulele and became a leading advocate for the instrument.
“This third wave of ukulele interest started with my brother Jumpin’ Jim Beloff and we were at the forefront with him,” said Phyllis.
Phyllis says the ukulele also enjoyed popularity surges in the 1920s and 1950s in the United States. After Dale spent 16 years as an engineer and with Phyllis raising two sons following time spent in retail, the couple decided to jump in headfirst.
“We were going to make ukuleles,” Phyllis recalled, laughing. “It was a difficult thing to tell our parents.”
Using a composite of injection molding and wood, Dale designed the first prototypes in time for The National Association of Music Merchants annual trade show in 1999.
“He came home with a bunch of orders and we haven’t looked back,” said Phyllis.
After operating in New Hartford, CT the business moved to Sheffield, MA in 2011 where a team of eight employees file, sand and scrape parts to assemble colorful ukuleles, banjos, violins and bass guitars.
Dale says the shop can also electrify anything. A laser quickly and accurately cuts instrument parts. It can engrave practically any word or image for customized instruments. Working with woods like maple, black walnut and Adirondack spruce, Magic Fluke utilizes area businesses to manufacture most of the instrument parts for hand assembly in Sheffield. Before the instruments are shipped out a little bit of tuning needs to happen.
The Webbs say the composite design makes their products more durable, lightweight and affordable than typical, metal-heavy instruments. Their standard ukuleles and banjos go for about $190. Dale says the company sells about 3,000 to 4,000 instruments each year, likely making it the largest ukulele producer in the U.S. Half of its business is wholesale to about 120 companies. They also sell to schools for music classes, libraries to loan out and even to hikers taking on the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail that runs behind the Magic Fluke headquarters.
“One wound up at the South Pole,” Dale said. “Because they’re light and durable almost every year we hear of one of our instruments packing the AT from start to finish. We’ve got dealers in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, all over Europe, Korea and Japan. We’ll ship direct. As long as somebody is delivering we can get an instrument there.”
Phyllis says she believes performer Bette Midler even gave one of the Magic Fluke instruments made specifically for her to the Obama family.
“So we’re hoping that they still have because it’s a very special instrument coming from her [Midler] and made from us” Phyllis said. “So we’re hoping that it is indeed in The White House and maybe will move out with them as well.”
So now that we’ve hit all the notes, how did the name “fluke” come to be? Well, Phyllis’ brother, Jumpin’ Jim, happened upon his ukulele at a flea market. Combine that with Dale’s uke design, which looks like a whale’s tail, also known as a fluke, and it seemed to be a match made in musical heaven.
“It’s fun, it works and its really stuck,” said Dale.
Editor’s Note: Special thanks to the Magic Fluke’s Mike Doerr for the background music.
